The Moriarty Gambit
by Kat Morning
Summary: What do you do when you find what you’re looking for and the finding paints an even larger target on your back? You find a way to do the impossible. And in the right company, impossible is just an illusion.
1. The Rebirth of Kudo Shinichi

_**Disclaimer:**__ Gosho Aoyama owns most of the characters and the setting. I do not. Trust me, things would be moving along at a lot faster clip if I did._

_**Dedication:**__ For Risa. She's the one that asked for it, and she's the one I largely wrote this story for. And the month I wrote it in was rough for her. So, for the poking, the prodding, and the throwing random MCR songs at me that spawned plunnies to chase … she gets a fic._

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.:** Chapter 1 –The Rebirth of Kudou Shinichi **:.

"_Necessity is the mother of 'taking chances.'" _

_~Mark Twain~_

.oOo.

He stepped from the shelter of the bus and headed down the rain-washed sidewalk, intent on the doorway beneath the glowing terminal sign. He hunched further into his jacket, pulling the hood down over his eyes and the zipper up near his nose as he walked, sheltering his face from the eyes of those around him as well as the cold drizzle of rain.

The static-crackle of a radio tuning, before it settled on clear voices, pulled at his attention over the slapping footsteps of the other foot traffic as he moved past a kiosk lined with magazines. He heard snatches of the report as he passed about a stolen gem and the reward being offered for its return. A reward offered that probably wouldn't be claimed when the pilfered stone was returned by the very thief that took it.

The sounds were swallowed by the rush of parting glass doors, and the low murmurs of human voices within the train station. A rush of warmth reached out to enfold him as he entered – his timing good enough that the train rattled up moments later.

He slipped between the parting doors and latched onto a pole, sinking against its smooth surface and stuffing his hands in his pockets. He left his hood up, and remained standing, despite that the emptiness of the carriages. The visible edges of his school uniform were dark with the rain, and he shivered occasionally as the lights of the city rushed past. Eventually his posture relaxed and, after several distance-placing stops along the train's route, he finally chose a bench and curled up in it against the outer wall.

The hood fell back, revealing straggly black hair slightly too long and unevenly cut and eyes hidden behind thick glasses perched on a broken nose. He stared moodily out into the rain, watching the city flash by until a pleasant voice announced the next stop and the train slowed as it rumbled into the waiting station.

He pushed himself to his feet and pulled the hood back up around his face before slipping out as silently as he had slipped on, back into the chill embrace of the rain-washed night and the walk ahead. As he stepped from the confines of the train station and back into the open air, he realized that the drizzling rain he'd fought all the way to the train had stopped, giving way to intermittent moonlight creeping through the receding storm.

A bus idled outside the station, waiting for the last few stragglers to board before its doors hissed shut and swayed into the sparse late-night traffic. He again claimed an abandoned space near the back, standing with his hand wrapped around a pole for balance, until slipping out at the end of his ride.

The world around him had changed; shifting from the claustrophobic chaos of Tokyo proper to the stately isolationism of this neighborhood lined with large houses and burnished nameplates. The shadow of a grin flashed in the shadows of his hood, and he tilted his face upward to acknowledge the clearing night. He reached up, and the glasses slid into his hand then vanished, replaced for an instant by a subtle glitter as he hefted two shiny stones in his hand. One flashed in answer – catching at the combined light of the moon and streetlamps of the deserted street – while the smaller one glimmered with opalescent fire.

His movements changed as he walked, shifting from tired slouching to a giddy purposeful stride that sent the two stones bouncing in his palm. He stopped and they disappeared from his hands without fanfare, leaving his hands free to reach out to the nameplate of the house that rose before him, fingers idling tracing the strokes of the kanji before the gate swung open under his other hand.

Swinging the gate closed behind him, he heard it latch as he continued down the front path to the house until a yawn caught him off guard. He made a note to find the spare key as the front door's lock opened with a satisfying click and he let himself into the abandoned home.

His shoes he left to dry beside the front door, and climbed the stairs in slightly dryer socks. Laundry he could do tomorrow, he decided, stripping off the wet jacket and tossing it over the back of the desk's chair followed by damp slacks and a uniform jacket. Another yawn ambushed him, and the numbers on his watch clicked to what he could only describe as o' dark hundred as he finally collapsed on the room's dusty bed.

.oOo.

The insistent beeping of his watch alarm started all too soon; hours later, but still too soon. He forced himself into enough wakefulness to stumble out of the bed he'd burrowed into during the night, and fumbled about for the noisy thing, slapping at it until the infernal alarm stopped. He pried one eye open long enough to check the time glowing at him from its digital readout, and didn't stop a grumble at how early it was. O' dark-hundred had given way into o' get-moving-or-be-late-for-school, and he didn't really know where anything was in this house, or what kind of shape it was in.

He found the bathroom quickly, and turned on the shower in the bathroom, letting the rusty water swirl down the drain as the pipes came back to life. Meanwhile, he pulled the lower half of his new school uniform out of drawers, and took the fastest shower he could when the water heater didn't wake up as well as the pipes. Cool air washed over his exposed skin as he rummaged around in the closet, looking for the rest of his uniform, finally finding the blazer jacket and shirt and snagging a green tie off the back of the door.

He smoothed out the blazer as he pulled it on, and reached back into the closet to grab the book bag stuffed into one corner before lobbing it onto the bed. More searching yielded a wallet, carefully folded into the silk of Kudou Shinichi's summer yukata. He grinned and opened it, rummaging around in the folds, which yielded identification and a bit of money. He pulled the money out, and put it back between the folds of the yukata, but kept the wallet, transferring his own money from the pocket of his old trousers while making another mental note to go grocery shopping after school. There wouldn't be a blessed thing but stale cereal (if that) in the Kudou's kitchen, but he had plenty of time to drop by a convenience store on the way to his first morning rendezvous. He gave the room a quick once over, decided it looked lived in now, and headed back into the bathroom.

The world outside was finally coming awake as Kudou Shinichi finished taming his hair and glanced over a printout of a class schedule waiting on the desk next to his watch. Noticing the time penciled in at the top and the time on his watch almost matched, he scooped up his bag and dashed out the door.

He dashed down the sidewalk, his strides taking him out of his upper-class neighborhood and closer to the heart of Beika until he spotted a lithe girl in a uniform matching his walking with an elementary student at her side. Grinning, he slowed and walked behind them for a full minute before taking a breath and sprinting forward.

"Hey Ran! Conan! Wait up!"

.oOo.

Ran went utterly still, hearing the painfully familiar voice, not filtered by a telephone and calling out to catch her attention. Conan went still for different reasons entirely, eyes widening behind his large glasses as the gangly figure of Kudou Shinichi stumbled up to them.

"Geeze, Ran, I've been calling your name for half a block!" he scolded, still grinning at them and swinging his school bag over one shoulder. "Wait up for a guy, will you? I know I've been gone, but …"

Conan managed a strangled squeak by the time Ran's stammering clumsied its way into coherence. "_Shinichi_?"

The grin softened to a smile, and he nodded. "Hey Ran."

"You're _back_?" she asked, clearly hoping, but afraid of the answer. "You solved your big case?

Shinichi rubbed at the back of his head and flinched. "Ah, solved? No, not really. I mean … yeah, I'm here, but the case isn't over. It's not solved. Not by a long shot."

Ran slumped and dropped her eyes to the side. "So you'll have to leave again,"

Shinichi straightened and waved his hands in denial. "I never said that!" Her face jerked up to his and he continued. "Look, there's been a big development in the case, and it's traced back _here_. So _here_ I am. I'm home. I'll still be working on it, and I might have to take off for a few days at times, but I'm coming back when I do. I swear to you I am. And maybe the twerp here can help me with some of it." He shifted and reached out to ruffle Conan's hair, snapping the little detective out of his daze, and into a dangerous focus narrowed completely on the taller teen. "Now come on, you two, or we're going to be late for school!"

He started off, trusting the other two to follow him, and it only took a moment of stunned blinking before they did.

"Shinichi …" Ran started, grabbing Conan's hand as she lurched after him. "What have you been _doing_ all this time? Can you tell me yet?"

"Not most of it," he answered, looking completely apologetic. "A lot of it's confidential until the whole mess is over, and it's _not_, but," he brightened, and turned so he was walking backwards, schoolbag slung comfortably over his shoulder, "I _can_ tell you about some of the places I've been! Parts of this mess have had me all over the world. Kind of like a grand tour."

Ran's relaxed and laughed as she nodded, giving him the permission to go ahead. And, as Shinichi launched into a travelogue that had her eyes widening, Conan's eyes narrowed and his fingers twitched.

He listened to them talk, trying to figure out how to pull his hand out of Ran's hold without her noticing, or getting her attention long enough to stop her hauling him along like a half-forgotten doll. Though half-forgotten seemed to be exactly his status at that moment … all her focus was on "Shinichi" as he told her about the work he was doing with the FBI in America. And not just America, but apparently Interpol was involved, and they'd had the high school detective in a dozen countries over the last year.

Ran's grip loosened for an instant as she gestured in response to something the imposter said, and Conan snatched his hand free. There weren't that many people who knew him well enough to impersonate him, and none of them were safe. However, it was the damage control he would go through with Ran when she found her Shinichi was still missing from her life that really had him flicking up the cross-hairs on his watch.

He hesitated just long enough to reach the outer pocket on Ran's bag and filched her cellphone, stuffing it into his own bag. It would sift its way down beneath his books in seconds, and the moment "Shinichi" dropped to the sidewalk, he could send Ran for help since no phone would mean she couldn't call anyone, and he could claim to have forgotten his at home. The tranquilizer would wear off long before she got back with anyone, but not before _he _had had time to do a bit of interrogating.

Conan squeezed the trigger on his dart watch. The imposter chose that moment to throw up an arm as he demonstrated something, intercepting the needle with his sleeve, and Conan started swearing under his breath. Before he could try anything else, it was too late. Muted arguing from high-pitched voices tugged at his attention, and he mentally groaned.

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi's sing-song broke into his irritated thoughts and in a few moments they were surrounded by the three other children. And all of them were distracted from their de facto leader by the presence of the young man walking next to Ran. They recognized him, or at least Ayumi did, as she was the one who finally offered, "You're Shinichi, aren't you? Ran-nee-chan's Shinichi?"

Shinichi answered with an embarrassed stutter and a nod as he glanced sideways at Ran, who blushed nicely. Shinichi kneeled down so he was closer to their level, smiling as each of them pushed the others out of the way as they introduced themselves. "You three must be Conan-kun's friends," he said, and they nodded cheerfully.

"We're the Detective Boys," Genta announced and Shinichi nodded at each then smiled at Ayumi.

"You don't look like much of a boy," he said, continuing before the dark glower could really take hold on her face. "But I don't doubt you're a detective." Ayumi's eyes shone with happiness, then widened as Shinichi produced a pink rose out of thin air and tucked it in her hair.

"Shinichi? Where did you learn that?" Ran asked, gasping in surprise as he straightened and a white one appeared for her. He handed her the flower and herded the whole group into continuing on, albeit at a slow enough pace the four children could keep up without running.

"The sleight of hand?" he asked, shrugging and looking embarrassed. "There was a magician in France that I worked with on the case. He showed me a couple of things: how to make stuff appear and a bit of juggling. He said to try that on you when I next saw you. And … well … did you like it?"

"You talked to him about me?" she asked, looking at him oddly as the four children jostled around their knees; three of them babbling excitedly, and one glaring a hole in the back of "Shinichi's" head.

"Um … well, yeah." Shinichi looked embarrassed again. "Should I not have, Ran?" Ran shook her head and smiled softly, letting the conversation between them lapse, looking content and touching the softness of the white petals with her fingertips.

A distant bell tolled, and Conan found himself swept off by the other three. Ran called after him to have fun that day, and Shinichi just waved, with a damning grin splitting his face, before the two teenagers continued on their way towards the high school.

* * *

**Kat's Notes:**

_This whole story came about as a challenge one night in a chat when I said I could probably end Detective Conan and bring down the Black Organization in 15 chapters. Never, ever tell your similarly obsessed friends you could do something, or that you had this idea but you don't feel like writing it out. They'll make you back your words. And talk you off the ledge when you realize just what you got yourself into._

_If you're just starting this, welcome! If you've read it before and are going "hey, Kat! Why are some things different?!" That's just me doing a quick edit before I post up the rest of this. See, I ended up doing another NaNo with this as my project, and finished off most of the story. I decided that, since I had to edit that part heavily anyway, I could do a clean up edit of the rest of the story while I was at it and fix things like Kaito's mom's name. She didn't have a name when I started this, or until I'd written most of it. So I've gone back and fixed it. Also, this site has a strange way of reformatting my chapters and stripping out things it deems unnecessary. Like scene breaks. So I'm fixing that, and making it look all pretty again. Sorry for any trauma the clean up causes! _

_No, you don't need to reread the story to follow what happens. I may have adjusted wording and added some things, but nothing critical._


	2. Truths Under the Rose

_**Disclaimer: **__I own a great many characters, plots, and worlds. Detective Conan and Magic Kaito aren't in that list, however. I don't think Aoyama would ever turn the story into "The Shinichi and Kaito Show" like I have a tendency to do. Do you? Sherlock Holmes belongs to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Arsenè Lupin belongs to Maurice LeBlanc, but they're public domain, so I can play with them all I want! mwahaha.  
_

_**Edit Notes: **__This story has been through an edit. If I change anything significantly, I'll put a note up here at the top of the chapter. Otherwise, I just cleaned up typos and weird formatting, so read on, good friends, read on._

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.: **Chapter 2 –Truths Under the Rose **:.

_"The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example." _

~ Benjamin Disraeli ~

.oOo.

The school day would not _end_. Conan spent more time staring at the clock than he did listening to the teacher's lecture on the intricacies of subtraction. Not that he ever really listened. He'd mastered everything they were trying to teach him, and only paused his own thoughts to call out an answer when the teacher called on him. Mostly, his brain chewed on the presence of "Kudo Shinichi", with only a fraction devoted to how clueless Edogawa Conan was supposed to be acting.

Adding insult to the irritation was his desk – situated with a clear line of sight directly to the high school. He supposed it was supposed to inspire the younger students toward studying hard so they would one day be accepted to Teitan High. All it was inspiring him towards _today_ was an ulcer.

And, it wouldn't have been so bad if the others would leave him alone long enough to slip away to do some snoo … reconnaissance, or even if they would just _shut_ _up_. However, the return of Kudo Shinichi seemed to be the topic of the day and nothing would budge the kids around him from talking about it. Even _Ai_ was more amused than worried after cornering him during a free moment and demanding to know what Ayumi meant when she said Kudo had returned.

"I don't know," he hissed back. "I have no idea what his game is, but I think Kaitou Kid is the one impersonating Kudo Shinichi! Clearly, it's not me since I'm standing right here!" It was, he decided, far too hard to yell in frustration when you were trying to be quiet.

"You're sure?" Ai questioned, looking both suspicious and subtly intrigued. "You did once mention that he knows about Kudo Shinichi."

Conan shot her a poisonous glare. "Oh, he knows. And now he's dressed in my school uniform, sitting at my desk, spending the day with my friends, and living my life! It's just _why_ he's doing these things I don't get."

"Figuring out criminal motives is your department," she said, a small smile tugging upward at her lips. "But, at a guess? He wants your attention. Teitan High isn't renowned for hiding large jewels, and no one's impersonated him there, so the whole point of this charade is probably targeted at you."

Ai somehow managed to look innocent as Conan directed a flat, un-amused look at her. "You're not worried he's decided to play this close to our personal lives?"

"Should I be?" she countered. ""I don't think your favorite thief is part of the Organization. _They_ would never allow him to give things back like he does. And, Kid's known about you for _months_, but there's nothing saying he knows anything about me. I'll worry when this looks like anything more than a bid for _your_ attention, detective."

Seeing no help (and not a lot of concern) from that quarter, Conan watched her vanish into the restrained chaos of their classmates and resigned himself to a day of sulking and waiting with as much patience as he could stand. He watched the high school and the clock by turns, and ignored the teacher.

.oOo.

The final bell eventually rang, sending hordes of children and almost-adults out into freedom. Conan had tried to send Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko home without him, and run into a stone wall. They'd wanted to wait with him, and see if "Shinichi-nii-san" wanted to go investigating with them. Conan had muttered about _those_ chances when they were notorious for tripping over corpses, but finally appealed silently to Ai for help.

Even if she didn't see Kid's newest game as a threat to any of them, she took pity on the detective and his quickly fraying sanity. She recruited Ayumi with a mention that Shinichi and Ran probably wanted to be together his first day back, and the boys soon found themselves dragged off. Conan himself had avoided it only because he'd ducked out of direct sight and Ai had helped Ayumi overlook him.

After ditching his usual escort, it didn't take long before Ran appeared along the fence connecting the two schools, dragging "Shinichi" alongside her by a vice-grip on one arm. Sonoko was in tow as well, latched onto Shinichi's other arm so he well and truly couldn't get away. The young man looked uncomfortable at the attention, or possibly just concealing panic at the prospect of all the things Sonoko was babbling about as they came into earshot.

Ran wasn't adding much to the conversation, but she was absolutely _glowing_. Conan's dark mood deepened as he waited, arms crossed and a glower in place.

"Aren't you supposed to be with your friends, chibi-chan?" Sonoko asked, spotting Conan where he stood. The glower evaporated as Sonoko drew Ran's attention to him, and Conan fairly bounced up to join them.

"They went to the park. I wanted to spend more time with Shinichi-nii-san!" Conan chirped, latching onto "Shinichi's" leg like a barnacle and ducking when Sonoko reached out to ruffle his hair for being cute.

"Well, your nii-san owes Ran a day of shopping!" Sonoko announced. "And I'll, of course, be along to chaperone." Conan winced and hesitated. He could escape and corner the thief later, leaving "Shinichi" to his fate at the hands of Sonoko and Ran, or he could insist on being taken along and chance Sonoko's tendency to use him as a dress up doll on these excursions.

Conan felt the knee he was latched onto shift as "Shinichi" carefully extracted himself from Ran's grip. "Um … sure, Sonoko!" he ducked away from Sonoko's clutches, "But I just got back and I really need to finish airing out the house so it's livable again. And I haven't even told the professor I'm back yet! So why don't you two go shopping, and I'll meet you somewhere for dinner!"

"Shinichi …" Ran started, cutting off as she found herself being pushed towards Sonoko.

"No, really, Ran. You don't need to help! You must have been helping there already, because it wasn't even very dusty, and I've been gone a while. There's not that much to do, but it would be more fun if you two went shopping, and then just let me treat you both to dinner. We can even get ice cream afterward!"

Ran started to protest, when Sonoko wrapped an arm around hers, a truly dangerous grin lighting her eyes. "It's a deal! The wharf market," Sonoko said abruptly, causing the other two to still. "You can meet Ran there at eight o' clock tonight, Kudo."

Ran frowned at her and Sonoko evil grin changed into a brilliant smile. "The wharf market is _romantic_, Ran! And we need time to find you something to wear."

"Wharf market?" Shinichi echoed, looking more than a little nervous at the mad glitter in Sonoko's eyes as she nodded and found Conan being all but shoved into his arms.

"Yep! It's decided. And take the chibi-chan with you," Sonoko ordered before latching onto Ran's arm and tugging her away.

"Stay out from underfoot, Conan!" Ran managed before being swept away completely.

"I will!" Conan chirped back, knowing full well he was being ignored with the way Sonoko was now soliloquizing about that evening and romantic sunsets over the ocean, but keeping up appearances anyway until they were out of sight.

Shinichi let out a long sigh, turned, and started off in the direction of the Kudo home. Conan jogged to keep up until other boy wordlessly adjusted his stride and slowed down enough that Conan could walk. Oddly, this didn't make the faux-grade-schooler feel better about his companion. They walked in silence for several blocks until he finally demanded, "Where are we going?"

Shinichi glanced down at Conan before answering, "The Professor's house, just like we told Mouri-san and the harpy … I mean Suzuki-san."

"K …" Conan started, and had a hand come down on his head in warning.

"We're still in public, Detective."

"You're up to something," Conan stated, and "Shinichi" laughed.

"When aren't I, Detective?" he teased. "But can you figure out what? You are, after all, my greatest critic."

"I've fallen down a damn rabbit hole," Conan grumbled, mostly to himself but it earned a grin from the taller boy as they turned into the neighborhood where Kudo Shinichi lived. They continued in silence until reaching the Kudo house. Conan pulled a worn key out of his pocket, but the click of the front door unlocking stopped him. A lock pick and tension wrench remained visible in the thief's hands for another moment before vanishing, and he bowed his small companion forward into the house.

Conan pocketed his house key and stalked passed the grinning thief, then whirled around and brought up … an empty wrist noticeably missing its watch. Kaitou Kid, for that's who it was minus his monocle but wearing his grin, slipped inside, relocking the door behind himself and pulling Conan's watch out of his pocket. Kid slipped his shoes off and walked further into the house, dropping the watch on a convenient end table for Conan to retrieve. Beside it also rested Conan's key to the Kudo home.

"Kid!"

Kid turned and responded with a mocking bow, the grin never leaving his face. "I knew you'd figure it out, _Conan-kun_, but you looked like the youngest candidate ever for a heart attack this morning when I gave Mouri-san that rose."

"That's because _you_ showed up as _me_ and told Ran you were staying this time!" Conan snarled, fists clenched. "What right do you have to screw up my life even _more_?"

Kid's left eyebrow quirked up. "You don't need help to screw up your life, Detective. But maybe you could use some unscrewing it," he told him, voice more serious than his smile implied. "And … I need a detective."

"Don't you already have a few of those chasing you around?" Conan scoffed, still keeping his distance but edging towards the table with his watch. "What game are you playing at?"

"Isn't that your job to find out?" Kid returned, challenging the detective mockingly.

Conan frowned and dropped his chin in his hand, mulling over the evidence and the enigma that was Kid. "You want my attention."

"I have that every time I send a heist note even remotely near Beika. Or Osaka."

"You want my attention, but you don't want _official_ attention," Conan corrected, rolling his eyes, then stilled and a comprehending glitter brightened his face. "… Kid, did you _find_ it? Whatever it is you've been looking for. You _found_ it?"

Kid's he folded his arms and waved a hand nonchalantly. "What makes you think I've been looking for anything, Detective? Maybe I just stumbled on a murder and needed someone who's good at solving that sort of thing. Why the charade?"

"You'd just lure me there by calling Mouri to investigate if it was a simple murder," Conan pointed out, eyes sharpening and grinning himself in a way that had Kid laughing internally. He looked like a cat that had just discovered the mouse hole. "You _did_ find it. I've known you were looking for something for months now. You invite the police to every heist. There _had_ to be a point behind all those notes. You _want_ them to chase you. And it's not just about having an audience," Conan rushed forward, interrupting before Kid could comment. "You're a good magician. Good enough that you could have a legitimate audience if you wanted one. And it wasn't for the jewels themselves, because you gave them all _back_. You were looking for something, and you found it."

Kid grinned and nodded, confirming all of the detective's deductions. "So, Great Detective, if I have my prize, why do I want _you_? I have detectives aplenty chasing me across the rooftops. Why you?"

This, Conan understood, was a final test. Kid seemed poised to explain everything, bringing Conan into the puzzlebox motives surrounding his bizarre heists if only Conan showed he could understand it. He hesitated. The prospect and promise inherent in the criminal standing before him weighed on his conscience, but fought a raging curiosity that drove him to understand. Deciding that he could just walk away later, Conan took a breath and accepted the challenge.

"You didn't go to Nakamori because he's a blowhard who's obsessed with catching you, and there's nothing you could say that would make him interested in _helping_ you. Even if you could, he's a good _cop_, but not a _detective_. Hakuba's your other choice, and he's a skilled detective, but … I've worked with him before, and he has a problem with tunnel vision. That and he can't quite keep up when he's just chasing you, can he?" Kid's raised eyebrow mockingly begged him to continue and Conan's eyes narrowed. "But you could arrange something if you wanted to make Hakuba or Nakamori stay still long enough to listen to you. So you don't want them involved in this for some reason … "

"'For there is more in heaven and earth, Shinichi, than is dreamed of in _their_ philosophy,'" Kid tossed out, his eyes bright with pleased excitement.

Conan looked up at him, eyes widening ever so slightly. "You want my help, but you also think I'm involved already somehow."

Kid nodded. "Bravo, Detective. You know, you really are the modern Sherlock Holmes. It would have taken twenty minutes of stringing Hakuba along and possibly diagrams and sock puppets for him to figure all that out."

"You say Holmes, I'll say Lupin," Conan responded dryly.

Kid's grin faded and he fixed the detective with a piercing look. When he spoke, it was deceptively casual. "Ever wonder what would have happened if Holmes had taken Lupin with him to Reichenbach Falls instead of Watson?"

The question brought Conan up short, and a heavy chill settled through him. Reichenbach Falls. The place Professor Moriarty lured Sherlock Holmes; drawing him out of hiding for a final stand, intent on killing the detective by sniper or by throwing him over the falls. "I … he … Kid, what's going on? _Moriarty_?"

"You've got one, and I do too," Kid said, turning to move further into the house. "Let's go raid your kitchen, and see if you have anything edible in there. I'll explain what I know and we'll see what you make of it."

Conan looked briefly between the retreating back walking along a path he was sure was carpeted with good intentions and the locked door that led back to normalcy where detectives chased thieves _without_ sitting down later with them for tea. The hesitation lasted a few breaths before he snatched his watch and his key off the table and ventured after the thief.

By the time Conan arrived in the kitchen, half of Kid was sticking out a pantry, rummaging around and finally pulling out a tin of instant hot chocolate. The chocolate went on the counter next to a slightly dusty tea kettle. "Definitely going out for groceries later," Kid muttered, grabbing down two cups from the cupboard and setting about filling the tea kettle and rinsing everything free of dust.

Once they were both ensconced at the kitchen table with mugs, Kid looked into his cup for a moment before speaking. "Criminals don't share well. That's part of why I show up when someone decides to use Kid's reputation. And most of the time they're trying to use it to cover up an impossible murder or for publicity.

"Everyone's always willing to believe I've gone from tricks to madness and started killing people." Kid laughed bitterly. "The publicity doesn't bother me so much, but the murders do. In case you _haven't_ noticed, I don't like murderers any more than you do. I'm just not as good at tripping over them as you are."

Conan remained silent, ignoring the jibe, and watched the other boy for a moment before asking, "Who was it?" Kid's head came up, his face composed and he took a slow drink from his mug without answering. Conan pressed forward, confident he was on to something. Kid was too composed and too quiet to not be hiding something. "You knew someone that was murdered. Who was it?"

Kid hesitated for a moment before answering, "My dad. He was looking for a jewel called Pandora. Though, I didn't know that until I overheard the man that killed him talking about it after calling me by his name. And I don't mean 'Kaitou Kid', though that was my dad's name before it was mine. They thought they'd missed and he'd gone into hiding."

"But they hadn't."

"No, they killed him on stage eight years ago. They didn't miss."

"And you found out it was murder …"

"About a year ago," Kid said, looking sad for an instant before his eyes sharpened and his lips thinned. "And I went after them. You were right: it wasn't for the jewels or the fun of dancing rings around Nakamori and his brute squad." He smiled fondly, swirling the contents of his mug around idly. "Though admittedly that _is_ fun, I couldn't think of any other way to get _their_ attention and maybe drag the police across them."

Conan flattened his hands against the table and sighed. Either he was missing something, or this was one hell of a cold case, and Kid really was as insane as he seemed. "This isn't the case you want me to solve, so I still don't see how I'm involved. _You're_ the only jewel thief I regularly chase, and I don't know how much I could tell you even with the police files about your dad's case. Nakamori or even Hakuba have more clout to get the case reopened than I do."

"That's just it, detective, there _wasn't_ a murder investigation," Kid told him. "The police decided it was an accident, that one of dad's tricks went wrong. But I couldn't even get you the files on _that_ because I've tried to get them and they got lost, along with the evidence Nakamori anyone else assigned to the case collected. It vanished before it ever reached the police station. But dad's murder isn't why I'm here; at least not directly. I don't know exactly how you're involved, Detective. I'm guessing."

Kid shrugged a bit, and looked Conan over pointedly. "I'm guessing that you didn't end up like that because you came across a bottle that said 'drink me' and couldn't resist. I'm guessing someone was responsible for it. And I'm guessing you created 'Edogawa Conan' because whoever they are didn't mind killing off a minor celebrity who was well-known to the police, and you don't think you can go to the police. So, Detective, how are my guesses? What happened to you?"

"A poison," Conan said, voice flat and not willing to elaborate as images of garish lights spilling into the back alleys of Tropical land flashed off gun metal and a more dangerous little silver pill case. "But in my case they did miss, I just didn't die. What makes you think it's the same group?"

"I think it _might_ be the same group," Kid corrected. "Or … well, it's been eight years, maybe they weren't then but are now. Mine are still around, and yours are still around, and criminals _don't like to share. _My group covered up the murder of a world-famous magician in Ekoda, yours took out Kudo Shinichi in Beika. Too close for comfort."

Conan's eyes sharpened. "So either they're both somehow keeping a low profile while living in close quarters … or you're right and they're connected."

"And I finally have a bargaining chip against them," Kid said, pulling something out of his pocket that caught the light and flashed. "They're looking for it. And so was I."

"Pandora," Conan said, watching the small jewel in the thief's hand sparkle. "That's why you didn't return your last heist."

Kid nodded, staring thoughtfully at the gem. "I was going to destroy it, and I cut it free of the ruby it was inside of, but nothing's worked so far. Whatever it's made of, it's harder than corundum, and I don't have a diamond-tipped grinder to try on it. Also, sneaking it onto a rocket bound for the outer rings of Saturn or the core of the sun is kind of impractical. So I'm working on it, but if I can't destroy it or get rid of it, I want to know what's so special about it. And I want to use it against them."

"Professor Agasa might know something you haven't tried yet," Conan offered after a moment of silence. "He's good at destroying things. And maybe we can find out what's so important about a … diamond? Other than being large enough to finance a small country."

"It cries tears of immortality," Kid offered, making the stone vanish back into its hiding place with a twist of his wrist. "That's what the one that killed my dad said to his boss when I was eavesdropping on them. Maybe they believe that."

"Tears of immortality?" Skepticism dripped from Conan's voice and Kid shrugged.

"You misplaced about ten _years_, pipsqueak. I'm not discounting anything just because it's weird."

Conan sputtered, and Kid laughed, standing and dropping his empty mug in the sink. "So, what are you planning?" Conan asked, sliding out of his own chair. Kid walked out of the kitchen and waited for Conan to catch up before heading upwards to the library.

"That is where you come in, Detective. Maybe I can get dad's murder investigation reopened, but I think I'd settle for just making sure these guys are stopped. That's what you want too, right? Other than a cure to your own predicament, I'm guessing. Maybe I can help you look in places you haven't tried you. Regardless, you will get a lot more mobility out of this deal."

"Huh?"

Kid looked back then turned so he was walking backwards up the stairs and able to keep eye contact. "You expect me to think your sneaking around investigations hoping no one notices how weird you get is easy? You haven't told Mouri-san, and you're physically what, seven? You can't even cross the street without someone holding your hand."

Shinichi colored as the observation hit home, and he hid his right hand behind his back. Ran did haul him along in her wake, not trusting a child of his apparent age to know better than to race out into traffic. "I can when the other kids are with me," he grumbled defensively, and earned an amused snort from Kid.

"I'm sure that makes all the difference in the world. You can cross the street and get to deal with keeping them from tripping across the psychopath du jour while you investigate." Kid twisted frontwards as he reached the top of the stairs and bounded down the hall to the library door, throwing it open before leaning against the wall and waiting for his smaller companion to reach him. "It's not that hard to run interference for you, you know. We've done it before, even when you didn't know it was me. And really well when you did."

"I knew it was you," Conan protested, walking past the thief and into his father's library. "I just couldn't do anything about it because we were always trapped with some murderer. _That_ was a threat. _You_ were an annoyance."

"Happy to serve," Kid snorted, still looking smug as he followed the detective. "But the point is that we can work together, and we both need solid leads. I'm willing to bet you don't have many." Conan's careful shuttering of his expression drew a triumphant smile out of Kid. "And eventually they're going to figure out I have Pandora, if they don't know already. That's why I disappeared. I _need_ a detective for this, Kudo, and you need the freedom to investigate without just hoping you'll trip over the answers eventually. What we've got separately isn't working very well for either of us. But together, we've got more options. Besides, _if_ we can find more information about whatever fountain of youth you fell into, I'll help you get it."

"By any means necessary," Conan said dryly, mentally categorizing the means he already knew were within the thief's capabilities.

"By any means within reason," Kit corrected before lapsing into expectant silence, his entire bearing asking the question hanging in the air.

Conan folded his arms and nodded, laughing silently as Kid relaxed perceptibly, and his grin became more genuine. "So who are you? I am _not_ calling you 'Shinichi' if we're not in public."

"You've got enough on me now to figure out who I was if I left you alone for a few minutes," Kid answered, pulling a sheet out of his jacket which he passed to the other boy. "But I'll save you the trouble." On it was a photocopy of a newspaper clipping, an obituary. Conan glanced at the date and then the man pictured there, wearing white and surrounded by a flock of doves and confetti, and then knew what he'd find in the rest of the article. Scanning quickly, his eyes picked out "magician", and zeroed in on the "survived by" portion.

"Kaito." Conan spoke the name and looked up at the teenager fidgeting before him. "You're Kuroba Toichi's son … and he's the original Kaitou Kid?" Kid nodded in confirmation and Conan handed the photocopy back. "We'll take the gem to Agasa's and …" He hesitated, ignoring Kid's curiosity while he mentally debated with himself before coming to a decision. Kid… _Kuroba Kaito_ had been honest with him, had handed Conan a huge secret, and Kaitou Kid was trustworthy in his own sideways-thinking way. Conan would feel indebted if he didn't return some of that trust. "You can meet him and Ai. Then I'll tell you what I know about the Organization. But, I had better go first and warn Ai you're coming. She knows about you impersonating me, and she doesn't think you're one of _Them_, but she might shoot you if I don't say anything first. I'm pretty sure she's had time to escape from the kids by now."

Kaito raised an eyebrow at that and asked, "Who is Ai, and what do I know about her that you're worried about?"

"She's involved too. She used to work for the Organization. She's the one that created the drug that turned me into Conan."

"And you trust her?" Kid asked, quirking an eyebrow up and looking at the detective askance.

"I've got a choice?" Conan snorted. "But yes, I trust her. She's a friend. And she's my best shot at returning to normal. She's also your best shot and figuring out what's so special about that sparkly rock."

"Then … here," Kid fished the jewel out of his pocket and held it out. "You may as well have a visual aid for her."

"And if I try to double-cross you, you'll just pick my pocket again and vanish, right?" Conan asked dryly, reaching for the stone.

Kid's eyes laughed cheerfully. "And you can just call the police, knowing it would get back to the people looking for me. We could make each others lives very difficult, Detective. We'll just have to try not to."

And then the phone rang, cutting into the almost-camaraderie they shared, and freezing both young men in place. They looked at each other, then turned and dashed towards the telephone on the library's massive desk as it continued to ring. They stumbled up to it, and looked at the device until Conan finally poked Kid in the back. "Answer it!"

"No one but you knows I'm here!" Kid hissed back. "Let the machine answer it!"

"It's probably just Ran! And if she calls and one of us doesn't answer, then she's going to panic."

"I'm not the Shinichi she's looking for, _Shinichi. _ You answer it!"

Shinichi huffed in exasperation and pulled his bowtie out of his pocket, waving it at the thief. "Fine! But answer it before she hangs up! I'll take over."

Kaito nodded and reached for the phone, pulling it off its cradle and answering, "Kudo residence, this is Shinichi."

A breathy snort sounded over the line and a clipped male voice responded. "Kaito? Put Shinichi on the phone."

* * *

**Kat's Notes: **Um ... that's something of a cliffhanger, isn't it? Apparently I like playing "guess who" in this story. Nothing much to say on my part other than thanks for reading, and most especially thanks to Chi, who did the fastest beta ever and helped me get this thing looking somewhat presentable. Loves, Chi!


	3. Pandora's Curiousity

**Chapter 3 – Pandora's Curiosity**

"_Let the key guns be mounted, make a brave show of waging war, and pry off the lid of Pandora's Box once more." _

~ Amy Lowell ~

.oOo.

_Damn,_ Kaito thought, _I know that voice._ He kept his hold on the phone by pure will even as he felt Poker Face slam down over his features. Shinichi noticed the shift and started throwing confused looks between the thief and the phone being strangled in his white-knuckled grip. Kaito took a breath and then forced his voice to sound slightly embarrassed. "Um … Dad? I can probably explain this."

Shinichi yelped and Kaito shushed him with a sharp look. Shinichi just glared back and jumped, trying to drag the phone down closer so he could hear. Kaito straightened, taking the phone well out of reach, and batted the smaller boy off with a hand. Growling, Shinichi held out a demanding hand.

Kaito rolled his eyes, and a cough came from the caller on the other end. "If you two are done fighting over the phone …" Guilty silence met the observation and Shinichi took advantage of Kaito's distraction to climb a chair and hit the speaker button on the phone so the next words sounded through the room. "All right, _Shinichi_, put _Shinichi_ on. I doubt you've managed to pry him off yet."

"He hasn't," Shinichi shouted towards the receiver, steadying himself against the back of the chair he was perched on. "Dad … you know?"

"Know what and _how_?" Kaito demanded, his voice tight. The temperature in the room seemed to drop as the thief's eyes moved, rechecking exits he had looked for the moment they had entered the library, and watching for any flicker of movement out of the ordinary. Shinichi found himself tensing up as well, following Kaito's unspoken cues even though he recognized his father's voice.

"Kaito's mother," Yuusaku answered. "And, since you've put me on the speaker, Kaito, that is not an invitation to try out other voices during this conversation. Chikage-san told me you're quite good at it." The silence he received in answer was telling, and Kudo Yuusaku's rich chuckle echoed over the line. "Okay you two, I've been calling every night for the past week figuring you would eventually be home so I could speak to you before we show up on the doorstep. I'd rather not have you both panic and vanish once we get there."

"You're coming back to Japan?" Shinichi asked, sounding a bit dazed. Kaito felt the same way, but was hanging on to his composure by a fingernail.

"I know we agreed to let you handle this case on your own, Shinichi, but there have been developments that we think you should know about before either of you go any further."

"What developments?" Shinichi asked, suspicious.

"Ones I don't think we should discuss over the phone. We'll arrive sometime after your mother stops trying to pack the entire house." Kaito raised an eyebrow at that, and Shinichi flinched. That was all too typical of his mother. The thief bit his lip in amusement until a crash sounded on the other side of the phone. The phone went silent after that for several tense moments, until Yuusaku's voice reappeared and he sounded resigned. "I'd better go. We'll see you both in a few days."

The phone went silent before either could respond, and both Shinichi and Kaito continued to stare at it for several minutes. Shinichi dropped into the chair and stayed there looking between the phone and the thief without saying anything. Kaito dropped to the floor so he was at eyelevel with Shinichi and propped his head up on his hand. "How did your dad know I was here?"

"I have no idea," Shinichi answered honestly. "He said he's been calling for the last _week_ …"

"That's not quite how long it's been since I vanished from my real life," Kaito said absently. "It's been closer to two weeks. But if Mom is with your parents … then I'd love to know _why_ she decided to go to them with this. Last I knew she and Jii were both in Europe." Kaito caught Shinichi's curious expression and snorted softly. "I'm not Kid all the time, you know, and I don't live in a magical lamp. Kuroba Kaito has a life too." He gave an eloquent shrug. "And officially, he's vacation with his mother in Europe before … visiting family in America." Kaito trailed off and he blinked, refocusing on Shinichi with a piercing gaze. "It was mom's idea. You don't think …"

"Do you _have_ any family in America?" Shinichi asked, folding his arms and

"Not that I know of," Kaito admitted. "But mom said that's what she would tell everyone, and wanted me to come along."

"To get you out of the line of fire," Shinichi said. "But you decided becoming Kudo Shinichi was somehow the safer plan."

A mocking grin stretched across Kid's face and he shrugged. "Hiding in plain sight. I'd have to be an idiot or insane to become someone that the guys after me already think they killed."

Shinichi slid his glasses off and folded them on the desk beside him before pulling his knees up so he could wrap his arms around them. "Everyone else thinks Kid's insane. Even if they love him like most of his fanclub does, they still think he's kind of crazy."

"Sounds like you might disagree with everyone there, detective," Kaito said, dropping backward and catching himself so he could lean back on his hands.

"I know a bit more what it's like to be searching for any clue you can get about who did this to you, and why, and not knowing even where to start looking," Shinichi answered dryly. "But what I'm worried about now is … think they've bugged the house?"

"Because I clearly do not know how to spot a hidden security camera," Kaito said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Besides, how did he _know my name_? It's not like I'm carrying a sign on my back that says 'I'm really Kuroba Kaito', and I've never had any reason to cross paths with your dad. And, being Kudo Shinichi doesn't mean I have to strain myself not to break character. Being Ran was hard. This disguise is basically me combing my hair and remembering to yammer about Sherlock Holmes from time to time!"

"Hey!" Shinichi objected, but Kaito ignored him and looked around them.

"I'm going to check the house tonight," Kaito said. "Maybe I missed something, but if someone _is_ spying on me, I'd rather know about it so I can patch it into a live feed of a sumo bathhouse or something."

Shinichi choked a bit, until another thought occurred to him. "You know that there's another explanation."

Kaito nodded and dropped his head to his chest. "Yeah, but that explanation means we should be planning a rescue operation and booking tickets for Hawaii."

They lapsed into pensive silence until Shinichi's attention wandered and finally settled on a clock that hung on the far wall behind Kaito. Now, he decided, was as good a time as any to go hit up Ai for information and see if she knew anything about the stone or Kuroba's father's death. Shinichi knew there wasn't much chance of that second one, but if he had been killed by the Organization, she might have heard of it. "C'mon, Kuroba, let's see if Ai or the Professor can give us any more information and …" Shinichi cut off as a not-too-distant explosion rattled the lights and threw him forward right into Kaito. Kaito caught him and they took an instant to steady themselves before racing for the door together.

They clattered down the stairs and Kaito wrenched the front door open, letting Shinichi dart out below him. They looked across the street and saw the source of the explosion as Professor Agasa stumbled out his front door, orange smoke billowing out behind him, and the scent of burnt sugar wafted across the street to the two boys.

Shinichi relaxed with a sigh and rolled his eyes, coughing to cover a laugh as Ai escaped the house and took up a stance that made her look like a very miffed cat as she glared at the professor with her arms crossed. Shinichi reached up to tug at Kaito's sleeve. "Let's go tell the Professor you're back, 'Shinichi-nii-san'."

"And help them?" Kaito suggested.

"They'll be fine once the house airs out," Shinichi told him. At the skeptical look Kaito was throwing at him, Shinichi snorted, "This is normal around here. You'll get used to it. Either one of his experiments just exploded, or he was cooking." Shinichi paused for a moment, looked at Ai, then shrugged. "Or he might have been mixing the two again. Ai looks annoyed enough for that."

Kaito gave him a dubious look, but ducked back into the house and grabbed both their shoes. "I guess this is no worse than listening to Nakamori's Kid rants," Kaito mused as they started off on the short walk to Agasa's house.

"You stick around for them?" Shinichi asked. Kaito's grin was amused and a touch wicked.

"Nah, I'm usually at his house for the best of them. But you can hear them from my house most of the time anyway."

"Inspector Nakamori lives…"

"Next door to the Kurobas," Kaito said, a mischievous grin suddenly brightening his face. "Ne, Kudo? Let's find out how good I am at being you, shall we?" Shinichi squawked as he got abruptly pushed behind Kaito and then left behind as Kaito bolted forward towards Agasa.

"I don't think that experiment's ready for the public yet, Professor!" Kaito called, striding up and reaching down to help the old man to his feet. Agasa started thanking him, then did a double-take, and wrenched his arm away, landing heavily back on the ground where he continued to stare at the grinning young man standing in front of him.

"Shi … Shinichi! You're … how …" Shinichi decided that moment was the best one to stalk into view himself, and Agasa's eyes only widened. "Shinichi-kun?"

Shinichi ignored the professor in favor of kicking Kaito in the ankle, making him wince. Ai had stopped glaring at the professor and was now staring with ill-concealed suspicion at the lanky teenager, who smiled and helped the professor back to his feet again. "And you must be Haibara-san. Conan-kun told me about you, but we haven't been introduced yet." Her glare cooled from suspicious to frozen, and it started including Shinichi as well. Shinichi's anger with Kaito evaporated and he began to fidget uncomfortably as Kaito continued talking. "Why don't I tell you about the case I've been working on inside. Unless … is the smoke dangerous?" The smoke in question now curled out the door in dying wisps, and looked like it had mostly ventilated from inside the house.

"Um … oh, no, it's not dangerous," Agasa said, dusting himself off. "I'm assuming, young man, that you have an explanation for where you've been?"

Credit where credit's due, Kaito thought, the old man was only a little slow on the uptake. "Boy do I have some stories for you, Professor," he agreed, following Shinichi who was stalking past and into the house. Ai hung back as the other three entered, then followed at a careful distance. She stepped through the doorway and jumped as it swung closed behind her and locked, revealing the imposter Kudo who then walked past her as though nothing was wrong.

She watched him for a moment before speaking. "You are the thief they call Kaitou Kid," she said flatly, refusing to move though she could hear the professor and Kudo further in the direction of the labs.

He turned and bowed slightly in response before correcting her, "Retired thief, but yes."

That earned an odd look from Ai that quickly turned into skepticism. "You retired and decided to impersonate Kudo Shinichi? Why are you here, Kid-kun?"

"I'm here for the same reasons I think you stay so close to Conan-kun," he answered, "you need a detective and you're on the top hit list of a flock of trench coats."

"Kid lost his dad to them, we think," Shinichi interjected, walking back down the hall to them and handing Pandora to Ai. "Can you tell us what this is?"

Ai looked at Kudo oddly, and lifted the stone to the light. "Geology isn't my forte, Kudo. And you'd be asking your jewel thief if it were a gem." The diamond-fire in the gem caught and flared before red began bleeding through the stone from where Ai's fingertips held it. She blinked and watched the reaction for a moment before Kid's fingers plucked the stone away and the red within it vanished. "That," Ai commented tightly, "is not a normal gem."

Kid was looking between Ai and the stone in his hand with narrowed eyes. "And it hasn't done that before." He held it out so the others could see the gem, sparkling innocently in his palm where it caught the sunlight from an un-shaded window, and clear save the flickers of color from refracted light.

Shinichi reached out and plucked the stone from Kaito's hand, and the three watched for a moment. Sure enough, in a few seconds crimson tendrils began snaking through the stone's clear interior, and within a minute the entire jewel shone like a ruby.

Kaito swallowed and shook his head. "Okay, so it likes Haibara-san, and it likes the shrimp, but it doesn't like me."

"Kid-san," Ai asked, looking at the stone in Kudo's hand with curiosity. "What do you know about this stone? Where did you get it?"

"It's called Pandora," Kaito answered. "I … it's the reason I became Kid you could say. Our probably-mutual problem killed my dad when he started looking for it. I wanted to find them and destroy it. I was hoping you'd have some ideas on how to destroy it, though, as nothing I've tried has worked. And now, apparently, it's a mood ring that only works on short people."

Ai held her hand out and Shinichi passed the jewel to her. It remained red and she held it up to the light once more before walking on, heading in the direction of the laboratory deeper into the house. Kaito and Shinichi shared a look laced with triumph before following after her. Shinichi fell into step with Kaito and they'd gone halfway down the hall before he asked, "Are you really retiring from being Kid?"

Kaito didn't look at him but nodded confidently. "I found what I was looking for. Though I guess the retirement announcement doesn't happen until we actually destroy the bloody thing." Kaito grinned suddenly, folding his arms behind his head. "It's going to disappoint Hakuba, you know, but sacrifices must be made."

.oOo.

Ai was bent over a microscope by the time they entered the laboratory, and Agasa had gravitated to her, also curious about the now-clear stone that rested in a Petri dish on one of the lab's tables. After a distracted greeting from the professor, both completely ignored the two boys, leaving them to just watch.

It took only moments before Kaito had wandered over to Agasa's rather cluttered side of the room, the side filled with gadgetry and contraptions scattered across every level surface. The thief spent a few minutes perusing the collection before zeroing on one and picking it up. He turned it over in his hands idly, examining how it was put together and poking at a few exposed wires behind an open panel. Then he climbed up onto a stool and reached for a pair of pliers.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shinichi hissed. "That doesn't belong to you!"

Kaito looked up long enough to favor the detective with a flat look that broke into a smile when comprehension dawned in Shinichi's eyes before turning most of his attention to the gadget. "The professor's almost figured this one out, but a few things are calibrated wrong and it's going to send him through a wall the next time he tries using it."

Shinichi blinked. "How can you tell that?"

"Because it's a lot like one of the modifications I was working on for my hang-glider," Kaito told him absently. At Shinichi's silence he chuckled but didn't look up from his tinkering. "Who do you think repairs my stuff, Kudo? I don't have a workshop full of elves."

Shinichi didn't respond, but moved closer so he could see what Kaito was doing, noticing with some surprise when the taller boy tilted his project to an angle that made watching easy. Kaito worked in silence for another quarter hour before Ai spoke up and claimed their attention. Agasa had slipped out during some point of the testing, and Ai was perched on a tall stool, twisting a Petri dish with a drop of clear liquid beading on its surface.

"I can't identify what your gemstone is," she told them, "but the professor says he can check with a few of his colleagues to see if they know of a good gemologist that is skilled at determinative testing if Kid-san wishes. What I'm more interested in is this." She hefted the dish on one palm. "I submerged part of the gem in water, and the water turned red like the stone does when Kudo or I touch it. It's gone back to its natural state now that I've removed the stone. Or at least, it visually appears that it has."

"But you want to test it more to see," Kaito said, setting Agasa's gadget aside and sliding off his stool so he could come closer to the tiny scientist. Ai nodded an affirmative while Kaito took the jewel itself and made it vanish. "I honestly thought they were crazy as loons for believing this thing had any wacky powers, but it's starting to seem more possible."

"It's not magical," Ai insisted, her eyes narrowing. "It's not a normal diamond or a ruby, but that does not automatically mean it's some … crystallized mermaid's tear."

"I'm not saying it is," Kaito said, holding up his hands. "I'm just saying that there has been a lot of weirdness surrounding that stone and I'm open to suggestions. I found it because the gem it was hidden inside of had a pedigree of legends, and someone out there believes the kooky legends enough that they're willing to kill for it."

"That," Ai said frostily, "does not mean that we should; unless, of course, one of the kami gave it to you as a reward for giving him a bowl of rice. I deal with scientifically provable results, not alchemy. If you want a supernatural answer, I suggest you consult any wizards you happen to know."

Kaito blinked and then looked speculative for a moment before nodding. "Well, it can't hurt. Thanks for running those tests for us, and tell the professor we'll get back to him."

Ai nodded, and Kaito gave her another small bow before snagging Shinichi by the arm and dragging him out of the laboratory. Shinichi was startled at the sudden manhandling and started struggling to be let free. Kaito released him the moment they were out in the hall, but didn't slow down, clearly expecting Shinichi to keep up. Shinichi scrambled after him and caught up where Kaito had stopped to reclaim his shoes by the front door.

"What's going on? We don't have to meet Ran and Sonoko for hours yet."

"I know," Kaito said, almost fidgeting as he waited for Shinichi to finish lacing up his shoes. "But we'll have to leave now and hurry if we want to make it back on time."

Shinichi stood and folded his arms, ducking to avoid being grabbed again. "Where are we going?"

Kaito grinned and threw open Agasa's front door. "We're off to see a wizard, detective! Or … well, actually a witch."

* * *

**Kat's Notes: **I've been amazed at the response to this story so far. So to whoever said whatever it was they said wherever it was they said it … thank you! A lot of people fingered exactly who the caller was. This next chapter should be fun, since they're heading for Ekoda for a chat with the resident witch. And, of course, Akako's not the only one wandering around that part of town. It's about time Shinichi has someone to tease Kaito about, ne?


	4. Miss Witch

_**Disclaimer: **__Characters and one line shamelessly stolen from the Detective Shinichi manga. I don't think it counts as a particular spoiler, but this whole story is spoilerific anyway._

* * *

.:** Chapter 4 – Miss Witch** :.

_"Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself."_

~ Rodney Dangerfield ~

.oOo.

"Well the snake is a cliché touch," Shinichi commented, staring up at the shaped knocker Kaito had just pounded on the door with. The entire house looked ready for a horror film; from the dark gables standing starkly out of place against the summer sky, and a gargoyle or two they could see laughing down on them from the eaves.

"She has a flair for the dramatic," Kaito nodded, pounding on the door a second time.

"And you think she's an actual witch."

"I think she's creepy," Kaito corrected. "But I also think legends have some tiny bits of truth in them, and she knows the most about the occult of anyone I know. She might give us a lead. The world is a lot more deep and full of mysteries than you want it to be, detective."

"Your dad said that," Shinichi told him.

Kaito looked over, giving him an odd look shuttered behind his poker face. "Yeah, he did." The door swung open under Kaito's hand and a squashed-faced man peered out at them from the darkness beyond. "Um … we're here to see Koizumi-san?"

A gap-toothed leer split the man's face and he opened the door wider. "The Mistress expects you," he wheezed, straightening the cuffs of his suit and clasping his hands. "Follow me."

"She expects us?" Shinichi hissed at him as they trailed after the butler down the hall. "Aren't you supposed to be over in Europe somewhere?"

"Yeah, but I doubt Koizumi believes that," Kaito responded, keeping his voice down. "But she probably has Igor there say that to everyone that comes over."

"Are you sure this is necessary?"

"Look even for the obscure clues," Kaito answered, almost tripping over Koizumi's butler as he stopped in front of a door and reached up to open it for them. "Oh, sorry! Um … we're here?"

"So you are," a voice from inside the room answered, and the two peered into the room at its sole occupant: a dark-haired girl whose eyes were widening with a look of predatory delight. "And this time it didn't even take a spell to bring you back to me, Kuroba-kun."

She watched them with feline curiosity as Kaito cleared his throat before stepping inside, reaching down to push Shinichi in alongside him. "Koizumi-san?" he asked politely. "I think you have me confused with someone else."

"Oh do I?" she asked, eyes narrowing as her index nail tapped the crystal head of a knight that sat on the ornate chess board beside her. The sunlight streaming in from the room's tall windows gilded the room with light, making the tasseled pillows and polished wood of the tables glow with a sort of cheerful opulence.

Kaito bowed politely as the strange butler pulled the door shut behind them and introduced himself. "My name is Kudou Shinichi, and this is Edogawa Conan. I met Kuroba-kun in Rome, and he suggested we ask you about a supposedly cursed stone. You may have some idea of what sort of legends are making it so attractive to the cult I've been chasing."

"Ah," she said, smiling slightly. "So you're supposed to be a detective."

"Shinichi-nii-san says you're supposed to know a lot about legends and stuff!" Conan chirped, bouncing closer and looking up at her.

Koizumi regarded Conan for a long moment, then leaned forward and propped her chin up on her hand. "I'm sure _Kudou_-_san_ would say that," she said, holding out her other hand expectantly. Kaito fished inside the inner pocket of his borrowed blazer before extracting the gem from its hiding place and holding it out to her, just out of arm's reach. She frowned and shifted forward, but let it rest in his hand, glittering in the light while she studied it. She reached out a finger to touch the gem, and Kaito's hand closed around it, shuttering it from view.

"I'd rather you didn't, Koizumi-san. It's quite valuable and doesn't belong to me … and I promised the owner I wouldn't let it out of my hands."

"Then tell me," she said, "how you expect me to tell you anything about it. Where is it from? What sort of cult is this that's interested in it?"

"They've been performing experiments in human longevity," Kaito explained, sounding cautious as he spoke. "But a jewel's a bit small to be the fountain of youth. Still, several people have died over this, and we want to know why."

"As it happens, I do know something about magical means to prolong life," Koizumi told him. "But there are many objects concerned with immortality. What makes this one unique Kudou-san?"

"It does this," Conan answered, pulling Kaito's hand down by the wrist and touching the gem. A heartbeat later, red tendrils began to infuse the clarity of the gem. Koizumi's breath caught, catching their attention so they were watching her as she watched the crimson jewel bleach back to diamond clarity. "Do you recognize it, Nee-san?"

She looked at him considering for a moment before standing and moving over to a box filled with small drawers that stood beside one of the windows. She opened one of the drawers, and pulled a square of black cloth from it. The dark sheen of the silk absorbed the light in the sunny room, and Shinichi could see the borders of it covered in embroidery incorporating symbols from at least five languages.

The silk she pressed into Kaito's free hand. "You really should wrap it; I wouldn't want the sparkle smudged by handling."

"Ah … thank you, Koizumi-san," looking from her to the silk cloth and regarding both rather like a snake he wasn't sure was poisonous or not. He finally did as she asked and tucked both into his jacket. Shinichi watched him and wondered if the stone had actually gotten wrapped in the silk, or if Kaito had just made it look like it had.

"Now," she said, a predatory gleam sparking in her eyes and holding out her hand imperiously. "If you'll give me the stone, Kudou-san, I'll be able to g"

Kaito hesitated then began to laugh. "I told you, Miss Witch," he scolded lightly, "I won't give anyone this jewel."

Now she was smiling in earnest and turned her attention to Shinichi. "Then perhaps this clever little boy is willing to help me." Shinichi drew back, throwing a confused look at Kaito that clearly asked what was going on.

"Your powers must be fading," Kaito quipped dryly, shifting so he was in front of Shinichi. "But then, Shinichi-kun is the most un-magically-inclined person I've ever met. He doesn't even like stage magic."

Koizumi watched their maneuvering, then settled back into her chair and smiled, a bit feral for a woman whose unfaultable magic wasn't working on the two males in front of her. "Perhaps they are. Or perhaps magical resistance just runs in bloodlines. It's carmot. If you want, I will loan you a few tomes for your research into these people that are killing for that stone. In exchange for a future favor, perhaps?"

Kaito didn't react, merely bowed to her slightly and turned to leave. "Thank you for your information, Koizumi-san, and your offer, but I think we will see what we can learn by ourselves first. I'll remember to thank Kuroba-kun for his advice."

She remained in telling silence as they left, and found their way back down the hall to the front door. The butler appeared suddenly as they approached it, and opened it for them, laughing soundlessly at the way Kaito jumped like a startled cat at his entrance.

.oOo.

The walk to the station that would whisk them back to Beika was a silent one, marred only by Kaito's fidgeting energy. Even shortened for Shinichi's benefit, his strides were fast enough that the smaller boy had to rush to keep up, or walk at a normal pace and just let his companion range like a restless ferret on a leash.

"Do you want a soccer ball?" Shinichi finally asked after the fifth time Kaito had made a wide circuit around their current walking path.

"A what? " Kaito asked, pulling up short and tilting his head in curiosity.

Shinichi sighed. "I usually kick around a soccer ball when I'm trying to think something through. Do you need one?"

"What makes you think I'm trying to think something through?" Kaito scooped up a smallish rock with one foot and bouncing it back and forth between his feet as they walked. Shinichi didn't dignify the question by stating the obvious.

"Does it bother you that much?"

"I'm just trying to place what 'carmot' is," Kaito evaded until he finally caved under Shinichi's silence. "Koizumi has a way of knowing things she shouldn't know, but she's never lied to me before. She knows I'm Kid and she's warned me before heists that things were going to go nine kinds of nutty, and they always _do_, but I've never confirmed it for her. Now I'm trying to decide if her bloodlines comment was just Koizumi trying to scare us or if she knows something we don't. Other than whatever the hell carmot is."

Shinichi walked in silence for a few moments before sighing and sliding his glasses off so he could look at his companion without the barrier of the glass. "We're not related. And even if we are, I'm not taking the word of a girl that thinks she's found out your night job by reading entrails or something. She's pretty much a nutcase."

"And you can't trust me on how much we look alike because it might be another disguise?" Kaito asked, still not looking entirely convinced. He laughed humorlessly and shook his head. "You know, I can't say I _haven't_ considered it. It's easy being Kudou Shinichi, since it's more about _acting_ like Kudou Shinichi than _looking_ like him. I even looked through my dad's stuff and got mom out of the house for an afternoon so I could crawl through our attic and photo albums to see if maybe you showed up in them somewhere."

"What did you find?" Shinichi asked, slipping his glasses back on and looking curious.

"Lots of pictures of me," Kaito shrugged, "a bunch of my parents, and a few of my dad's apprentices. Nothing incriminating, and nothing suspicious."

"Then we'll just have to go through my house when we get back," Shinichi said, kicking at a stray rock in his path. "Mom loves photos, so maybe we'll see someone we both recognize. If all else fails, your mom and my parents are going to show up soon. We'll ask. We'll set this question to rest before tackling the rest of it."

Kaito regarded Shinichi – whose attention remained on the rock as he batted it before them with his shoes – for a long moment before he should his head. "You seem less freaked out than I would expect, detective. Why is that?"

A voice called, interrupting the conversation before Shinichi could answer. "Kaito?" Kaito stilled, eyes widening as he recognized the voice that had called his name before he clamped down on the reaction, slipped into a confused mask, and turned.

"Um … excuse me?" he asked carefully, running a hand over his hair and making it stick up a bit. Shinichi looked between Kaito and the girl that was approaching them and kicked sideways so he could nail Kaito in the ankle. Kaito realized what he was doing, and yanked his hand away from his hair; messing it up wouldn't help his disguise any.

The confused hope on the girl's face faltered, then faded, and she looked down in disappointment. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone I knew. You … look a bit like him."

"My name is Kudou Shinichi," he offered.

She hesitated for a moment before bowing politely. "Nakamori Aoko."

Kaito suppressed a wince as Shinichi stared up at her with wide-eyed guile. "Are you related to Inspector Nakamori?" the boy asked. "The one that chases Kaitou Kid?"

"He's my father," Aoko nodded proudly. "And he's going to _catch_ Kid! Ah!" her eyes lit up with comprehension. "Kudou-kun, you're the teenage detective from Beika! You've chased Kid as well, haven't you?"

"I've been at a few of the heists," Kaito answered dryly. "But I don't think I met you at any of them, Nakamori-san."

"I recognized your reputation," she admitted. "And my father's mentioned you. Also, I apologize for calling you Kaito. You really do look a lot like my friend Kuroba Kaito, though. It's almost … uncanny. Except," she hid a laugh behind her hand, "you brush your hair and Kaito never does unless he's trying out one of his new disguises."

Kaito hid a sulking frown behind Shinichi's polite interest, and dropped a hand on Shinichi's head before the detective could make good on the evil smirk that was creeping across his expression. He brushed his hair. He just didn't gel it into submission like certain detective twerps. As it was, the certain detective twerp was watching him with too-sharp eyes and a smirk that wasn't leaving.

Aoko dropped down to Shinichi's eyelevel and smiled brightly at the boy. "And is this your little brother, Kudou-san?"

Kaito didn't stop the laugh that answered her, though it was directed more to Shinichi's horrified expression than her relatively-innocent question. He held up his hand and shook his head. "No, Nakamori-san, this is Edogawa Conan. He's not my younger brother. We are …" he started to say 'not related', and then changed his mind, "cousins." There, he thought, that would be enough to explain the different last names, as well as the resemblance. And it was probably true … it just depended on how far back they had to dig before they found a common ancestor.

"Cousins?" Aoko queried. "Wow. You're not related to any Kurobas, are you? Kaito's a magician. Or at least he thinks he is. But he's also a jerk who decided to go gallivanting across the world with his mom and didn't even tell me he was going!"

"Nakamori-san …" Kaito started, cringing as she huffed and waved him off without looking.

"It's okay. He promised he'd be back when he called to say their flight had landed. Kaito's pretty good about keeping promises. I'm on my way to check on the magical idiot's doves right now, as a matter of fact. It was nice meeting you Kudou-san … Conan-kun."

Kaito moved to fall into step next to her when Conan stepped on his foot. Kaito yelped and glared down at him. "Brat! What was that for?"

Conan looked back up at him, shining innocence with a warning glance at Aoko that was too quick for her to spot and too plain to Kaito: you are going to blow your cover, idiot. Aoko was busy snickering at the two of them, and said, "I can tell you're close. You two act like brothers."

Both straightened, and Kaito slid more firmly slipped into his role as Shinichi and laughed along with her. He bowed politely, rather than the sweeping bow Kaito himself would have affected, and said, "Well, we wouldn't want our quarrelling to make the doves go hungry. Have a good day, Nakamori-san."

She smiled at him and nodded, then continued on her way, the summer sun catching brown highlights in her hair as she moved. Kaito watched her for another few moments, some part of him grateful that Shinichi wasn't saying anything or dealing bodily harm to him for hesitating. Finally, Kaito turned and walked off towards the bus stop they were going to need.

Shinichi jogged to keep up, waiting until the relatively sparse crowds around them cleared, escaping indoors away from the summer heat or beneath the shade of trees. Eventually, as they crossed into a park beyond which was the bus, a soccer ball skidded across Kaito's path. The thief stopped, looked at the ball in puzzlement, then turned back to look at the detective it had come from.

"You missed."

"Inspector Nakamori's the head of the Kaitou Kid Task Force," Shinichi said, walking past Kaito to retrieve the ball and kicked it around idly.

Kaito stuffed his hands into his pockets and glared. "Thank you, detective. Surprisingly, I already knew that."

"And _his daughter_ is Kuroba Kaito's best friend?" The words weren't laced with accusation, but from Kaito's reaction, they might as well have been. He stiffened, and looked truly angry at the implication. A quick glance told him they were alone in the middle of a sun-washed path alongside a school baseball field. The chance of eavesdroppers was small, but Kaito still lowered his voice and dropped into a loose crouch, putting himself on eyelevel with Shinichi.

"We, detective, have been friends since we were _six_. We were your size when we met! I didn't befriend her because of her dad, and she would do more than chase me with a mop if she ever found out I was Kid."

Shinichi was silent for several moments before sighing and dropping his head. "I'm sorry, Kuroba. I forget that I'm not the only one who has a life to get back to. But … why? Why didn't you just put it back? You could have pretended you never found it and they probably would never have checked. They had you doing that for them, after all."

Kaito shook his head. "I thought about it. I could have gone on pretending. Just destroyed the thing, and left an imitation in its place, or left the real one behind and gone onto the next jewel on the list, leaving it hidden and as safe as it was before I found it. But until when? How long would it be until they got tired of waiting and came for me just like they came for my dad? And, I would have to keep being Kid just to throw them off the track. No. It has to _end_, Shinichi. We have to make sure it ends."

"And Aoko-san is a big part of why, isn't she?" Shinichi asked slyly.

"Aoko's _part _of why, yeah." Kaito looked away, and Shinichi pretended not to see the faint tracery of blush creeping across his nose. Kaito twisted the embarrassment into a sad smile. "I can't be Kid and let her too close. She hates Kid, and it's dangerous. They're gunning for me and I don't want anyone caught in the crossfire. But it's also about dad - it's even _more_ about dad - and it's about justice believe it or not. Always has been. Maybe we're not that different after all, detective."

"Maybe not." Shinichi was quiet for a full minute, just watching the thief with too-knowing eyes before shaking his head. "I hate admitting it, thief, but you're right. _However, _you no longer get to tease me about Ran because … man, that is sad and messed up on _so_ many levels."

Kaito hunched and glared at Shinichi. "Unless you want to be carried home like a sack of sugar, pipsqueak, shut up about Aoko. Or I could always give Ran a ring and she'd think it was from you. What do you think? We could have the wedding planned by the time you're feeling like yourself again!"

"I would be okay with that," Shinichi answered him flatly. "I tried to ask her one of the times I _was_ in my real body, but Ai's temporary cure didn't hold out on me. That's not going to scare me, thief, I'm already comfortable with how I feel about Ran. However," Shinichi's smile turn sly, "I wonder what Inspector Nakamori will sound like when he realizes the thief he's been chasing for all these years lives over the fence, and his own daughter is tending Kid's spy doves."

Oddly, this image seemed to cheer Kaito up a bit and he grinned. "Nakamori'll probably peel the wallpaper off the walls, and go for Guinness in new curses devised for the occasion. And I …" Kaito winced, suddenly subdued again, "I will be changing my name and moving to the wilds of Argentina to raise alpacas for the rest of my life."

"Nakamori's jurisdiction ends outside of Tokyo," Shinichi pointed out. "And isn't there a warrant out for Kid's arrest in Argentina?"

Kaito paused and thought about it, ticking something off under his breath and on his fingers before he brightened again and grinned. "Not in Argentina! Besides, I can escape the Inspector's handcuffs; it's the reach of Aoko's mop I'm worried about. It doesn't have a jurisdiction." Kaito rocked back and sprang to his feet. "Now come on, we have shopping to do before facing the wharf."

"Shopping?" Shinichi asked, jogging to catch up with Kaito as he leapt off again for the bus.

"Mom would flay me if she thought I was living on vending machine coffee and onigiri, and your pantry couldn't feed mice."

.oOo.

"Why am I carrying your groceries?" Shinichi asked lugging a half-full bag of food in front of him and looking up at Kaito, who had another two full bags in his hands.

"Because it builds character," Kaito answered absently.

Shinichi sighed, rolling his eyes. "You are so full of …"

Kaito swung the nearest bag closer to Shinichi, making him start. "Ah! What would Ran say if she heard you?" he teased, unlocking the front door to the Kudou house and stepping inside.

"Heard Conan-kun saying what?" Ran asked, leaning around a doorway into the hall. "And _there_ you are! Shinichi, I was worried you'd vanished again and taken Conan with you this time!" Kaito smiled reassuringly, relieved that she acted like she was teasing them, despite the very real relief in her voice, and the slight relaxing of lines at the corners of her eyes.

"I see you escaped from Sonoko, Ran," Kaito noted. "Weren't we supposed to meet you later?"

Ran bit her lip and laughed. "Sonoko got distracted. I decided to save you from having to go all the way down there when you're probably still jetlagged."

"The jetlag's not too bad, I promise," Kaito assured her, Kaito shifted his grocery bags to one hand and put the freed hand on Conan's head. The boy looked up to find a shadow of Kid's grin looking down at him before Kaito's attention switched back to Ran, ruffling Conan's hair just to annoy him. Conan batted at the hand and Ran snickered at the two of them.

"So what have you boys been up to this afternoon?"

Kaito held up the grocery bags he was carrying. "The cupboard was bare. And I needed to talk to someone about the case. Conan-kun wanted to come with me, and I figured we'd be back early enough." He started to look nervous and looked around for a clock. "We are back early enough, right?"

Ran relaxed and laughed. "You're both mystery nuts," she said fondly. "But all things considered, that sort of thing just runs in the family, doesn't it?" Ran seemed oblivious to the nervous fidgeting her comment set off and leaned down to liberate Conan's grocery bag. "Here, let's get these put away before all the ice-cream you decided was a basic necessity to life melts into sugary goo."

"It's not just ice-cream, Ran!" Kaito protested as he led the way into the kitchen. "There are other things in there too, I'll have you know. I can cook."

Ran laughed brightly and nodded to placate him. "I know you can, Shinichi. You fend for yourself really well, but unless you tripped across a chef while you were traveling the world, I _know_ what kind of things you consider food. Though, come to think of it," she paused to stretch up and set something on a higher shelf, "you do seem more … normal. I mean, you haven't brought up Sherlock Holmes even _once_!"

"Well…"

"I'm proud of your restraint," she told him heading off what she thought would be another detective monologue. "And I know you just bought all this food, but why don't you come over for dinner tonight? Dad still doesn't know you're back yet."

"Wouldn't your dad want to keep it that way?" Kaito asked, remembering Mouri Kogoro and suspecting – from Shinichi's well-covered cringe – that the great "Sleeping Detective" might not be so thrilled to have Kudou Shinichi back and upstaging him.

"Dad went out for the evening," Ran told him. "Some old buddy of his from college is in the area and wanted to treat him to dinner. So it'll just be the three of us."

"Well in that case," Kaito grinned, "Why don't I take you and Conan-kun out for dinner too? You don't have to spend half the night cooking, and Sonoko won't yell at us tomorrow."

"I'd like … Shinichi, are you sure?" Ran was looking at him with disbelief and an ill-concealed sort of hope.

"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to," he told her honestly. "We can even go to the wharf if you really want to. Let's just get the rest of these groceries put away and we can go."


	5. Materia Prima

******Disclaimer:** Right this way, folks! Chapter 1 is right this way! See the Disclaimer! Wonder of the modern era! Right this way!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Materia Prima**

_"True friendship is never serene." _

~ Marquise de Sevigne ~

.oOo.

Kaito threw himself onto Shinichi's – temporarily his – bed, feeling both tired and energized; almost the way he felt before a promising heist. He'd never impersonated anyone for this long a stretch before, and while Kudou wasn't as hard as a lot of other people would have been, maintaining it for more than a few hours was a novelty.

He'd been watching and studying the detective out of sheer curiosity since the clock tower heist. Know one's enemies, after all, and Kudou was one hell of an enemy. Nakamori performed exactly like expected at every encounter, with a few unexpected tricks to keep things interesting. Hakuba joining the chase meant running into inconvenient flashes of brilliance now and then. Kudou, though … he was _dangerous_ in a way that demanded Kaito play at the top of his game if he wanted to play at all.

Kaito admitted to himself that the rivalry was fun; especially the milder form that had cropped up between them now that they were in a truce. It was a peculiar sort of trust born from being two people who could royally screw over one another's lives, though neither of them really wanted to screw up their already screwed up lives more.

Akako's commentary on magical resistance running in families was enough to make both his and Kudou's hackles rise. His, because it would make a twisted sort of sense, and Kudou's because … well, Kudou didn't believe in magic. But then again, Kudou had never seen his own skin tear when the witch impaled a doll replica of him.

It was enough to send Kaito on an information search, even if he didn't know what he was looking for, exactly. And, whatever it was, he hadn't found it yet. Kaito sighed, and flopped over to bury his face in the pillow. He hadn't had time to check every inch of the Kudous' oversized house. Or it could be waiting back in the lair behind the painting. Kaito had found newspaper clippings in his father's room before and even added a few of his own over the last year. Magicians were packrats in the worse way.

His mind continued racing, running over the day, and the things he hadn't had time to worry about yet. He wondered if Kudou was as freaked out by it, or if he had managed to shrug it off like he did Kid's tricks once they were unraveled.

Kaito pushed himself upright and rubbed at his eyes. Sleep wasn't coming, so he might as well get some work done, right? He ran a hand through the damp strands of his hair. It was sticking up as it dried, free of the merciless gel that had been taming it into submission since Kaito had taken Kudou Shinichi's persona. He decided he was going to make a point of messing up Kudou's hair at least three times tomorrow for as annoying as that hair gel was to live with.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, feeling the cool wood of the floor and the comparative warmth of the rug on the soles of his feet. A few steps brought him to Shinichi's desk, and the computer that sat on it. Kaito switched it on, the screen casting a ghostly illumination through the room as the machine purred with electrical life. A quick check verified that the internet service had been reconnected as requested, just like the air conditioning, electricity, and natural gas had been. In fact, reconnecting all the services had been Kaito's first real test of Shinichi's identity and set up weeks before.

Kaito pulled the chair out and sat down, thinking back on their conversation with Koizumi. She'd said the jewel called Pandora was carmot. Kaito knew gems, and hadn't heard of that one before. However, since he didn't know what it was, and Kudou's tame scientists didn't know, no harm would come from seeing what he could find on carmot.

The word came up immediately, and had Kaito frowning. There was _no way_ Koizumi could be serious, he decided. He could categorize all the things about it Kudou wouldn't like alphabetically and chronologically, starting right off with the phrase "alchemy" and ending somewhere around "mythical element". How, he demanded silently of the computer screen, could something science didn't even believe existed anymore not only exist but have had two generations of his family chasing it all over creation? And being chased in return.

The traitorous part of his mind (probably the part that faced down the reality of homicidal robot replicas, and dark magic, as well as mysteriously shrinking teenagers), staunchly shoved a foot in the door of the rest of his mind, forcing it to stay open. He'd gone to Koizumi for help, so was he going to throw out that help because it doesn't fit with a normal world view? Newsflash, Kuroba: neither do uppity teenagers de-aging ten years, nor gems that cry immortality. The second one wasn't a confirmed fact of life at the moment, but the first was arguably weirder and real.

Kaito closed one window, leaving several others he was reading through open, and pulled the stone from its hiding place. A stray bit of the nearly-full moon caught on the facets, igniting eldritch fire in the depths of the jewel, and he mentally checked it off against the words on the screen. It was said to deep red in color. Which Pandora wasn't … unless it was exposed to the moon, or Kudou or Haibara. That was something he hadn't shown Kudou yet, that the deep crimson bled across the surface when he held it too, it just took several minutes instead of a few seconds.

His mind circled back to the fact that Shinichi was never going to believe him. The detective dealt in facts. And, for someone who had inadvertently found the fountain of youth, he was very stubborn about the possibility of the supernatural, even though sometimes the _logical _explanation wasn't strictly logical. De-aging ten years isn't logical, but it _was_ fact. But if things really were adding up the way he thought they were, then he needed confirmation from a published resource. He had to make sure he'd answered all other possibilities. Kudou hadn't made it a secret that he'd thought the trip to Akako's had been a goose chase, or maybe a distraction.

Kaito didn't know if he was they grasping desperately at straws, but too many things were adding up. Maybe they were onto a concrete reason for why the Organization wanted Pandora, and maybe even why Akako had demanded it. Did it matter if the thing really was carmot? Or did it just matter that someone _thought_ it was, and was willing to kill and mangle lives over that possibility?

Kudou's dad was a mystery author, right? Kaito suddenly thought. One with a massive library! He had looked through it earlier, but he had been looking for anything out of place or too normal. No one could beat fiction writers for their collection of odd books on esoteric subjects. Kaito shoved himself away from the computer screen and headed for the library.

The sheer number of books waiting behind the door was daunting, but Kaito soon figured out the sorting system and, only a little surprisingly, found a few books on alchemy amidst what seemed to be every mystery novel known to man. He grabbed the most promising of the books off the shelf, and carried them over to the room's desk. Dropping into the chair, he cracked the first of the books open, and started to read.

Some of them had notes written in three separate handwritings in the margins, or addendums after sentences, squeezed in where the paragraphs broke and left room. The notes, he quickly found out, were the books' saving grace, as the rest of the words were incomprehensible a good third of the time. Clearly, most alchemists spent far too much time playing with mercury and contemplating the subtleties of wet, dry, cold and hot.

Abruptly, underlined words on the page of one of the saner tomes caught his eye. "It is then the White and the Red Elixir and is an everlasting water, the water of life, the Virgin's milk, the spring, and that Alum of which whosoever drinks cannot die…"

A handwritten note filled the margin beside the passage, and Kaito blinked at it for a moment, trying to decipher the smudged pencil but gave up when all he could make out was "elixir" and "delay death". He pulled the jewel out again, this time holding it long enough for the crimson flush to spread through its faceted surface and sighed. "Carmot. _Lapis philosophorum_," Kaito said into the silence of the empty house, surrounded by the debris of his search. "They think we have the Philosopher's Stone?"

.oOo.

The next morning found Kaito on the doorstep of the Mouri detective agency, a bundle of nervous energy that translated into "happy to be home" for everyone that wasn't Shinichi. Ran opened the door a few minutes after he rang and her eyes brightened as she invited him in.

"We should go do something," he declared, waving at Shinichi who was watching from his claimed spot on the couch. "You let me out of shopping with you and Sonoko yesterday, so where would you like to go today, Ran?"

Ran hesitated, looking flustered, and then laughed. "Shinichi! Do you have any idea what time it is? Dad isn't even awake yet!"

"And the Sleeping Detective needs his sleep. So why don't we go to breakfast, and we can bring him something back by the time he'll be awake."

She glared at him, but there was no malice in it. "I was about to _start_ breakfast, Shinichi."

"This way you don't have to!" he grinned, casting a subtle look in Shinichi's direction that said 'help me out here!' Shinichi rolled his eyes, but set his book aside, slid off the couch, and padded over.

"Ran?" he called, grabbing her hand to get her attention. "I think uncle finished off the rice last night, so we need to get more. And breakfast with Shinichi-nii-san sounds fun!"

"He did?" Ran blinked, looking suddenly irritated enough that Shinichi and Kaito both backed away from her a few steps until the expression evaporated and she shook her head. "Well, then I guess breakfast sounds great, Shinichi. Give me some time to get cleaned up and we can go. Conan? Get your shoes on."

"Yes, Ran!" Shinichi responded, heading towards the door. The instant Ran was out of sight and presumably out of earshot, Conan's cuteness evaporated and he ordered Kaito to follow him with a brusque wave. Kaito snorted but followed, staying silent until they were ensconced in the entry way to the apartment. "Okay, what are you doing here?"

"Making sure Mouri-san doesn't think Shinichi's up and evaporated on her again," Kaito answered, pulling his own shoes back on and lacing them. "She'd probably have called or shown up later today, and we don't know when your parents are going to show up, or what's going to happen when they do."

"And?" Shinichi asked, knowing there was an "and" lurking in the wings.

"And ..." Kaito thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. "And I'm going to go stir crazy cooped up in that house all day with just the mice, the mystery books, and the crazy alchemy texts. You should really think about getting a cat."

"My house does not have mice!" Shinichi protested, rolling to his feet so he could almost loom over the seated Kaito.

"Well, they could be rats," Kaito replied with an unrepentant grin. "I didn't catch one to make its acquaintance and check."

"Kuroba …" Shinichi hissed, keeping his words and voice to a low undertone in case Ran wandered close enough to hear them. Kaito cut him off with a gesture and bounced to his feet.

"I did some research last night," he said, breaking off in a yawn. "I found out carmot's used in alchemy."

"Alchemy?" Shinichi said the word with undisguised distasted. "You do know that your side trip into the occult isn't going to help us, right? It's a kitsune chase."

Kaito shrugged. "I'm not sure the point isn't what it _is_, detective. The point might be what they _think_ it is. Motive is most important to the criminal, after all."

"And what do _they_ think it is?" Shinichi asked flatly, skepticism shadowing his voice. Kaito winced, then took a breath and opened his mouth to reply, but Ran's voice cut him off.

"What are you two conspiring about up here?" she asked teasingly, walking up with her purse slung on one arm and smiling at both them.

"Um …" Kaito responded intelligently. "Not conspiring, Ran! Just talking about where we're going to go. We should get going." Shinichi yelped as Kaito ruffled his hair, and he could swear he heard a satisfied "one" under the thief's breath as he slipped past and opened the door for the other two. Shinichi rolled his eyes in exasperation, clearly thinking something along the lines of: Crazy thief.

.oOo.

The walk was pleasant. Ran seemed brighter and more alive than she had in months with the presence of "Shinichi" beside her. In fact, she looked happy beyond words. The observation comforted Shinichi and gnawed at him simultaneously. Small consolation was that Kaito didn't look perfectly comfortable himself, and usually maneuvered things so Conan was between him and Ran as much as possible. He had good reason for it, Conan knew, and silently resolved that he'd help to make sure they didn't get stuck together alone, even if he could see Ran angling for it.

Her subtly-asked question about Conan wanting to spend the day with his friends was quickly met with a conglomeration of family trips, visiting colleagues, and a cold. The cold alibi neatly explained why Professor Agasa wasn't a possibility either: Ai wasn't feeling well, and Ran didn't want to expose anyone to an infection.

The three wandered through Beika for half an hour before choosing a small bakery and café, the enticing scents of cinnamon, dough, and coffee wafting from the open doors. Shinichi bounced in ahead of Ran and Kaito and found them a relatively secluded table away from the café's tall windows and with a good view of all the exits. Ran didn't notice the placement, but Kaito did, and shot an approving look in Shinichi's direction.

The three were midway through their food before a jangle sounded from Kaito's pocket. He looked confused, and shifted so he could fish around in his pocket and extract his phone. He checked the screen and frowned slightly. "Just a second, Ran. It's Megure. Inspector?" he answered, after pressing the button to accept the call.

Shinichi perked up in interest, straining his ears to catch as much of the conversation as he could. Unfortunately, all he got was Kaito's half of it.

"Inspector, I…" Kaito hesitated, and then laughed. "No, Inspector Megure, I haven't gotten rusty, but Ran and Conan are with me." Megure obviously said something else, because Kaito's face darkened and he shot a speaking look to Conan. "I appreciate that you'll keep my name out of it Inspector, but …" Conan squirmed in his seat until he was close enough to kick at Kaito, catching the other boy in the leg. Kaito jerked back and glared at his small tormentor, then pulled a thin-tipped marker out of his pocket and commandeered a napkin to write down an address and a short list of names. "Give us about twenty minutes to get there, Inspector."

When he hung up he found Ran watching him, her expression torn between amused, resigned, and resistant. Kaito offered her an embarrassed smile and started to explain until she smiled and shook her head. "Go on, Shinichi. Your adoring public awaits."

"It's not like that," he protested. "Looks like your dad mentioned I was back in town and Megure wants an opinion on a murder. Why don't you come with me?"

Kaito yelped as she reached out and smacked his arm. "The last thing I want is to get dragged into one of your mysteries, you nut! Why don't you just take Conan with you? He probably wants to go, and it'll keep you both out of trouble while I do the grocery shopping."

Kaito stood, "Ran, I … thanks, okay? I know you put up with this a lot, and look, I'll drop Conan off later and we can catch a movie. I'll make this up to you."

"You just better come back, Shinichi," she told him, serious and oddly quiet.

"Neither cloud nor squall will keep me from coming back," he answered, grinning. "Promise. I'm not going to vanish on you."

Ran nodded, looking at ease as he handed her enough money to cover their breakfast and headed for the door with Conan in tow.

.oOo.

Ran watched them go with only a tinge of regret she wasn't going with them. Some things, she knew, never changed, and Kudou Shinichi chasing after mysteries was one of them. Conan was worse if anything, but she found she didn't really mind. They were both mystery nuts, but they were _her_ mystery nuts and he didn't want that to change. Besides, she thought as she shook herself out of the first-spun spider silks of worry, collected her thoughts, and picked up her purse, she had shopping to do and a third detective to feed.

The bill paid, she stepped out into the brisk Saturday morning foot traffic that flowed along the streets of Beika. Ran had walked most of a block before her name was suddenly called by a pair of voices, one of them calling her "Nee-chan".

Ran looked up and across the street, tracking the two voices, and saw Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha waving broadly at her. She waved back, smiling widely, and pointed towards the stoplight at the end of the block. They nodded and shadowed her that far then dashed across the road in front of the idling cars the instant the "walk" jingle began to play.

"What are you two doing in Tokyo?" Ran asked as Kazuha grabbed her hands.

"Eh, Kazuha has an Aikido tournament this weekend," Heiji explained, shoving his hands into his pockets and smiling in greeting.

"And Heiji jus' tagged along," Kazuha said.

"So _she_ wouldn't get lost," Heiji added, and got a punch in the arm and a glare from Kazuha. Heiji rubbed at his arm and looked around Ran like he was expecting something to spring out at them from behind her. "So, where's the shrimp, Nee-chan? He escape before you dragged him out shopping?"

"Sort of," Ran laughed. "He took off with Shinichi a few minutes ago after a call from Inspector Megure. There was a mystery afoot and you know detectives."

Kazuha lit up at the news. "So Kudou's back? That's wonderful! Did he finally come to his senses too? When's the wedding?" The blush that suddenly stained Ran's face had Kazuha giggling and dragging Ran off, demanding details and asking if she still had shopping to do.

Neither noticed that Heiji hadn't followed them. He stood in the crowd, confusion, shock and suspicion that was quickly giving way to a heavy sort of panic for his friend all struggling for dominance inside him. It was impossible for Conan to be with Kudou – at least it was supposed to be – because Conan _was_ Kudou.

A burst of laughter from Kazuha, carrying across the distance, jarred him from his stupor and Heiji dashed after them, dodging pedestrians and calling out apologies until he'd caught up.

"Kudou's back?" he asked, and received a confirming nod from Ran. "Um … when?"

"Yesterday," she answered. "He caught up with Conan-kun and me when we were walking to school." She laughed at the memory. "I think he almost scared the life out of Conan running up like he did. He definitely startled me."

"I'll bet," Heiji muttered under his breath before forcing himself to smile and shrugging with what he hoped was nonchalance. "Kid's kind of high strung. I just thought Kudou was on a big case overseas."

"He still was … still is. He's just working on it here now," Ran told him, a shadow of doubt flashing through her eyes as she caught Heiji's expression darkening. "Is something wrong, Heiji-kun?"

_He never _stopped_ working on it here, Nee-chan,_ Heiji thought. _But you don't know that, and I need ta know more before I blow his secret for him. Damn, Kudou, what's going on! And couldn't ya have let me in on it? _"Wrong? What could be wrong with Kudo finally showing up after vanishing before I really got ta meet him?"

"Him being off on a mystery and you not being invited along?" Kazuha suggested, more than a bit of gentle, knowing, mockery in her tone.

"Could be!" Heiji grinned, pouncing on the excuse and internally dancing that Kazuha had just given him an opening to the information he really wanted. "Any idea where Kudou and Conan went, Nee-chan?"

"No, I'm sorry, Heiji-kun," Ran said apologetically. "Megure called Shinichi and he invited us both along. Conan went with him, but Shinichi didn't say where they were going."

That, Heiji thought, could be very good or very bad. Either Kudou knew his imposter and trusted him (presumably it _was_ a him), or he was drawing him away from Ran. Without more to go on, Heiji had no idea which it was. Or who Kudou would trust enough to impersonate him like that, let alone _why_.

"Well, at least they seem ta be getting along then," Kazuha commented, "Kudou and Conan-kun, I mean." Heiji dropped back enough that he could still see and hear the girls but they couldn't see him, and pulled out his cell phone.

Ran laughed at that and nodded. "Oh, they're definitely a pair, but I think it's cute. If you have some time, why don't we go do something? I'd love for you to meet Shinichi, Kazuha, and both of them were going to check in after the case was finished up. I was going to have them meet me at Shinichi's house."

Heiji scrolled through the numbers saved on his phone, hoping Megure's was one of them. The fastest way to see if Megure had actually called – or if the whole thing was an elaborate trap –would be to call the inspector and ask him if he still had custody of the two detectives. Megure's name eventually scrolled past, and Heiji sent the call. It rang through to Megure's voicemail and Heiji snarled under his breath. Quickly, he tried Kudou's number, and waited for it to connect … and not be answered. The call switched to a recorded voice telling him to leave a message, and Heiji punched the wall they were walking next to, startling a few of the other people on the street and a stray pigeon as he started cursing from both the pain and the frustration.

He looked at the backs of the girls, still chatting with one another and apparently oblivious to his subdued panic. He was torn between sticking with them to make sure they were safe, and tracking down the strays.

He was almost certainly in trouble, and Ran seemed to be okay for the moment. She hadn't been nabbed off the street, and obviously she'd been alone for a while before they spotted her. So, Heiji reasoned, as long as the girls stayed in public and together, Nee-chan should be safe enough. Though, since she didn't know what was going on, the chances were decent that the people after Kudou weren't particularly after her.

Decision made, he ran to catch up with the girls. "Why don't you two go have fun? I checked with Megure, and they're still working on that case, so I'm going to catch up with Kudou and Conan." He plastered a carefree grin on his face at the frosty look Kazuha was giving him, and the knowing snicker he heard from Ran.

"Go on, Hattori-kun," Ran waved him off while latching onto Kazuha's arm. "Shinichi and Conan-kun can show you to his house to meet up with us later."

"Sounds good," Heiji nodded, relief shadowing the determination settling in him. "I'll call you when we're back to Kudou's. This shouldn't take too long. Especially with the three of us on the case" Heiji dashed away before Kazuha could respond.

The girls followed Heiji's progress through the crowd until he vanished around a corner. A moment later, Kazuha turned to Ran and asked, "Did Shinichi or Conan even know we were in town? I didn't think Heiji had called Conan-kun about it and Shinichi-san …"

"He didn't mention you," Ran said, shaking her head at the entire pack of mystery nuts. "But, if he didn't, he will soon."

.oOo.

Heiji raced for Professor Agasa's house, cursing that he and Kudou just had to live on the far side of Beika. He finally stumbled up the walk, winded, and pounded on the professor's door. Heiji was leaning against the bricks, catching his breath when Haibara finally answered, her carefully inquisitive face leaning around the painted wood.

"Ai-chan!" he gasped. "I need to talk to the professor. Kudou's …"

She looked him over, her childlike demeanor dropping away, and pushed the door open wider. "You'd better come inside, Hattori-san. I believe you haven't been told the rest of the story yet."

"… being held… wait … rest of the story?" He shook his head. "No time. I just need to know if the professor has any spares of Kudou's toys before they get back. Like a tranquilizer watch."

Haibara ignored him and went back inside, clearly trusting the detective to follow. Heiji did, stumbling out of his shoes as Agasa poked his head out into the hall to see who had arrived and was pounding through his house. Puzzlement crossed his face as he saw the Osakan detective, who had finally wrestled himself free of his shoes and was now padding around in his socks. "Professor! I need you to get a hold of Kudou for me! Don't you lot have some sort of radio system set up?"

He almost missed Haibara's softly snorted "which one?" Heiji looked sharply at her, but she continued on down the hallway past the professor, who was looking even more confused.

"Hattori-kun? Is something wrong? Didn't you try Shinichi's cell phone?"

"Hell yeah there's something wrong! He's not answering, and neither is Megure!" Heiji growled. "I've tried. Nee-chan said Conan _and Shinichi_ got called away by the Inspector earlier. Unless things have gotten _considerably_ weirder since I last talked to Kudou, that's not possible!"

"Ah," the professor said with comprehension and a bit of trepidation dawning on his face.

"Ah?" Heiji echoed. "Professor, they're probably holding Kudou in his own house. Or they might have moved him by now."

"They?" Now Agasa looked bewildered. "Hattori-kun, Shinichi is …"

"Look," Heiji said, "Making a kid disappear isn't that easy, despite how often it seems to happen. Especially when the kid is Kudou – who can take care of himself when he's not worrying about everyone else's safety – and is 'Edogawa Conan' and known by the entire local police precinct. They'd need time to get rid of him, move him or hide the body, before someone sounded the alarm and the searching started. But Nee-chan's not worried because he's with 'Shinichi', so we need to find him. Now."

Agasa remained silent for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "Hattori-kun, you are completely correct, but I was going to say Shinichi is not in any unusual danger."

"Professor …!"

"What the professor means," Haibara's soft, high voice interrupted. "Is that the Kudou Shinichi that has been dragged into a murder case with Edogawa Conan is actually Kaitou Kid." Heiji rounded on her and the final pieces fit into place and he boggled.

"What the hell's Kid got to do with this?!"

Ai looked at ease, which she wouldn't if her prime protector was in imminent danger. The professor looked more worried about Heiji's state of mind than Kudou's whereabouts and current company. "They discovered we all may have enemies in common," Ai answered him. "Kaitou Kid contacted Kudou yesterday morning, and they seem to have declared a truce. They'll both be back later this evening if you want to demand details."

"Ai is correct," Agasa agreed. "Whatever the Inspector wanted with those boys should be resolved soon enough, and you can ask them yourself about the current situation. You're welcome to wait here if you'd like, but I doubt Shinichi would mind if you waited at his house. That's probably the first place they'll return to."

"I … you really don't think Kudou's in danger." Heiji was confused, and none of the evidence was lining up into a clear picture of what was going on. However, he received a confirmatory nod from both scientists even as he shook his own head.

"Okay, okay. I don't think anything but Kudou explaining is going to tell me what's really going on, so I'll wait at his place. Don't worry. I know where the spare key's hidden at unless the Kudou clone took it with him."

"Oh, I don't think he's been using a key," Ai commented, an amused smile brushing her lips as she rocked back on her heels, and oddly child-like action in a girl Heiji knew was no child. "It should still be where it's supposed to be."

.oOo.

"Shinichi, are you staying in the area for much longer?" Megure asked as he walked with the teenaged detective and thief away from the crime scene. The flash of squad car lights added multicolored flickers to the shadows beneath the estate's trees and the trio paused to watch a handcuffed man being escorted into the back of one.

"Yes, Inspector, I am," Kaito answered. "But still working on something classified, so I'm trying to keep a low profile until it's finished. We tracked the evidence back here, but I wouldn't want to ruin the whole thing by splashing my name across the papers and letting them know we're closing in on them."

Megure's eyes widened at the slightly feral smile on Shinichi face then nodded. "I can help you there. You'll be 'a police consultant' as far as the public report goes for this."

"Thanks, Inspector," Kaito said, then reached down to ruffle Shinichi's hair again. "And now, I'd better be getting Conan here back before Ran starts charging me late fees."

Shinichi tried to subtly kick Kaito in the shins, but the taller boy slithered out of the way, then latched onto his shoulder and dragged them both away. Shinichi glared at him, but just sighed as a ghost of Kid's grin responded on Shinichi's face. Oddly enough, he felt like he was getting used to it.

The route they had to travel wasn't far, but Shinichi was quickly finding that Kaito was easier to walk with than Ran in several ways. Unless he got agitated, Kaito kept his strides slow and controlled, matching them to a speed Shinichi could actually _walk_ at. It was an unspoken courtesy, and a silent acknowledgment that the detective wasn't a child that _needed_ to be hauled along on a leash.

However, Kaito was still playing Shinichi flawlessly to an almost disturbing degree, which was mollified only because Kaito was also Kid and an acknowledged master of disguise. The case they'd solved had been interesting, to say the least, but less because the murderer was particularly inventive, and more because he didn't have to spend the entire time dodging adults (mostly Ran) while trying to solve the bloody thing.

Kaito had helped where he could, and gotten out of the way otherwise. He found the hidden murder weapon before Shinichi did, and questioned the police guards, asking them about the layout of the place while Shinichi had examined the crime scene. Shinichi had ignored _why_ Kaito was so adept at questioning guards about building layouts – other than being a magician whose very trade was based on distracting attention from what was really going on to what he wanted them to _think_ was going on. Even Megure had been completely taken in by the act. Granted, Kaito admitted at one point when they were alone, it was easier to pull off a card trick when the other parties didn't realize there was a trick going on.

Kuroba Kaito _was_ Kudou Shinichi more than the actual Kudou Shinichi was able to be … at least while anyone was in anything like the general vicinity. When they were not, the mask would slip just a bit and Shinichi could see the ghost of Kid's grin creeping across his face, and mannerisms that weren't quite _Shinichi_ because they were shading definitely over into _Kaito_.

"How do you have Megure's number?" Shinichi asked as the thought suddenly occurred to him, sounding more than a little suspicious, as the pair walked at a sedate pace through the streets of Beika.

"You had it in your cell phone," Kaito told him, not looking over but still managing to notice the darkening of Conan's mood at either the invasion of privacy or the theft. "Stop worrying, detective. There weren't any phone thefts. Yours is still in your closet back home. I just transferred your phone book into mine."

"Just how much of my life have you rifled through?" Conan asked, rubbing at his forehead like he was staving off a headache and wasn't actually sure he wanted to know the answer.

"I have to be you, so what do you think?" Kaito responded. "Devils are in the details."

"_You_ are a detail?" Shinichi queried.

Kaito responded with a grin and a question of his own, "When do you think they'll get here?" Shinchi looked up at him in confusion and Kaito shrugged. "If they left right after they called, the plane should be arriving soon, right?"

"Um … well, no." Now it was Kaito's turn to look confused as Conan continued, "They probably didn't leave until the next morning. You don't know my mom. She's probably bringing a whole month's wardrobe for three personalities with her."

Kaito snorted with laughter. "Personalities?"

"Mom was an actress, and she still plays dress up. Dad's just an overdramatic ham. What I want to know is what they know about what's going on."

"I know my mom knew more than she told me about," Kaito offered. "Just her _knowing_ was a big enough shock, you know? And she's the one that came up with the idea of Kid appearing in a few other countries for a while. But there's no way to get a hold of her right now. The last I knew, she was in Europe. And now I'm wondering … how did your dad know? Mom is the only one I told everything, and she has _all_ of Kudou Yuusaku's books, but she's never mentioned actually knowing him." Kaito paused for a moment. "Granted, I never thought to ask."

"Your mom is a fan of my dad's?" Shinichi asked, surprised at the news. His father was a famous author, but something seems strange about Kaitou Kid's mother being a fan of detective novels. Kaito, however, just shrugged easily, stepping back as Shinichi hopped up and snagged the latch to the gate of the Kudou house. Hinges squeaked as the gate swung open, and a curtain shifted in the window.

"I think it might be because the Night Baron reminds her of dad," Kaito admitted, walking past Conan, whose eyes widened.

"Kuro … _Kaito_." The word stopped him, but Kaito didn't turn around. Still, Shinichi felt like he had to ask, "Do you think the Night Baron might be based on Kid?"

Kaito didn't turn, just reached for the doorknob. "Probably. Why not? Your dad used to chase my dad, didn't he?"

"He's the one that named him 'Kid'," Shinichi agreed. "And I guess you do make a pretty good criminal mastermind."

The door swung open under Kaito's hand and he entered first, kicking off his first shoe and wiggling out of the second before Shinichi followed him in. His shoes dropped next to Kaito's, who was now occupied in stretching like a lanky feline, and Conan padded past. Kaito relaxed from his overhead stretch as he realized Shinichi's back was turned to him, and an unholy grin spread across his face.

Before he could pounce on the smaller boy, the creak of a floorboard caught at his ears and he realized something was wrong. Reflexes honed by a year's worth of heists and the inevitable "Dog-pile on the Bandit" games took over as a lithe figure lunged at him. Kaito ducked away from his attacker, grabbing Shinchi up bodily and ignoring the protesting squawk as he did and tossed the small detective one way while he tucked his feet under him and dove the other. Conan skidded down the hall, catching himself, but losing his glasses in the force of his fall.

Kaito rolled to his feet, his card gun appearing in his hand and aiming before he'd fully stood. The dark figure that had jumped them hesitated for an instant and a jack of spades took him in the knee, not slicing through his jeans but the impact buckled his leg. A soft thwip sounded from Conan's direction and the intruder collapsed in a boneless heap, landing in an awkward slump of unconsciousness, victim to a tranquilizer dart.

Silence reigned in the motionless time it took for the adrenaline to go down. Kaito tucked his card gun away and Conan picked himself off the floor where he'd shot their uninvited guest and wandered over. Kaito shifted the limp body, noting that it wasn't fully grown, and then realized that the sleeping face looked disturbingly familiar. Though, every other time he'd seen this particular victim, it had been accompanied by a Kansai drawl. "Um, Kudou?" Kaito finally hazarded. "Did you just _shoot_ your detective friend from Osaka?"

* * *

**Kat's Notes:**

For everyone that has been wondering when Heiji would find out about this little masquerade … here you go! And yes, Kaito's mom is a fan of Kudou Yuusaku's novels. Toichi mentions it when he's having tea with Shinichi's mom in one of the Detective Conan cases. I always thought that was amusing.

This is, hands down, the longest chapter to date. There just wasn't anywhere to break it, so it went really long. Good way to start the new year, right? As always, if there are problems, let me know. I usually finish these edits around 3am, and I miss stuff from being half zombified by that hour.

Things to note this time round/additional disclaimers to give: There's a semi-quote from Final Fantasy IX lurking up there. That's obviously not mine, but I was having fun slipping it in there. The alchemy text I quoted is from Edward Kelly's "The Stone of the Philosophers". Also not mine.

See you next week!


	6. Detectives and Thieves

**Kat's Notes: **I'm not dead! Not that anyone's asked, but this is a really long silence on my part for this story. So … mmmkay, I know this isn't my strongest chapter, so let's get that apology out of the way. I'm very sorry. It hit the point it was either delay _another_ week, and hope I was up to making things more readable, or just slay the beast and toss it into public.

Delays cropped up. My family decided that now would be a fantastic time to go from its usual Addams Family kookiness to something on par with the House of Black. I am being serious, my family can't make many claims to sanity and sometimes they can be completely vicious. It cuts into my writing/revising time, but seems to be mostly okay now.

**Note Redux: **Fixed it! Here's a chapter where I've made some pretty significant changes. To one scene. They won't alter the plot; I was just fixing Heiji's out-of-left-field hostility.

* * *

.: **Chapter 6: Detectives and Thieves** :.

_"We may talk, shake hands, nod to each other, but the fence remains. You will always be Sherlock Holmes, the Detective, and I, Arsenè Lupin, the Gentleman Thief."_

~ Maurice LeBlanc ~

.oOo.

Shinichi and Kaito stared at the unconscious Osakan detective for a full three minutes before saying anything.

"We could just wait for him to wake up," Kaito offered. "How long do those darts of yours last?"

"About ten minutes," Shinichi sighed; "long enough for me to wrap up a case with time to spare. And he's going to kill us if we just step over him and let him wake up like that." He nodded to the odd angles Heiji was making on the floor where he'd fallen. Kaito thought about it for another moment before shaking his head and crouching down with his back to Hattori, casting a significant glace in Shinichi's direction that said: "well? Help me!" as he reached back to pick up Hattori's arms and pull them up over his own shoulders. Hattori's upper body rose off the floor like a macabre sort of marionette, aided somewhat by Shinichi, who was digging a shoulder into his Osakan friend's back and trying to help hoist the much larger body onto the thief's back.

"Kaito, are you going to be okay?" Shinichi asked as Kaito struggled to his feet, hauling Hattori's body up with him then lugging it towards the living room.

"I'm fine," Kaito huffed, dragging the deadweight the last few feet before dumping him on the couch. He took a moment to roll the sudden kinks out of his shoulders before bending over and straightening Heiji out. Shinichi scrambled out of the room to grab a pair of house slippers, which he left by the couch when he returned, then helped arrange a pillow behind Hattori's head.

"Time's almost up. He should wake up soon."

Kaito shot him a disgruntled look and stalked to a place across the room, where he could both see out a gap in the curtains and keep an eye on their guest. "What are you planning to tell him?" he paused and the irritation lifted slightly. "Well, other than explaining that you shot him."

"You shot him too," Shinichi pointed out, and Kaito's answering smile was sharp.

"Yeah, but I'm the professional criminal here. I'm _supposed _to be the bad guy. So? It's up to you, Kudou. What do you plan to tell him?"

Shinichi studied Kaito's face, but it was a carefully kept, secretively smiling mask. He stood in a relaxed slouch against the side of an armchair that held every promise of becoming swift action at any moment. In all, even without white clothes and a monocle, he was very much more Kid at that moment than the detective he was impersonating or the Ekoda teenager known as Kuroba Kaito.

"Hattori's not stupid, so he's going to figure it out," Shinichi finally told him. "He figured out _Conan_ when I'd kept the secret from anyone that hadn't been directly told."

"So you think he's added up you 'reappearing' and come up with 1412? And showed up to protect you from the big bad phantom thief?" Kaito asked.

Shinichi shrugged. "He knows Kid's a master of disguise. But so is at least one of the members of the Organization, so we'd better tell him who you are … not everything!" Shinichi added quickly as Kaito's eyebrows climbed for his hairline. "Not if you don't want to, anyway. But this might be good. We'll have one more ally and I'd stake my life on Hattori being trustworthy."

Kaito sighed and shook his head. "You already have. Several times. And it looks like I'll be staking my freedom on what we're trying to do here and just hope we can give him a reason not to go straight to the police."

"Because there's worse criminals out there than a prankster thief that gives the stuff back anyway," Heiji said from the couch. "And it'd really hurt Nee-chan if you vanished on her again, Kudou."

The other two jumped, and turned to Heiji as he fully awoke and pushed himself up from the couch. "I am never going to make fun of Mouri behind his back again." He shook his head gingerly to clear it, and grimaced. "Those little needles pack a wallop. Kaitou Kid, huh?" he asked, reaching up to straighten his ball cap. "Well, that explains the miraculous return and why Kudou's sticking to you like a burr. Also must be why Nee-chan's not been getting you all to herself without a seven-year-old chaperone."

Shinichi felt the color flush across his face, and saw Kaito fidget. Heiji smirked at them, then sobered and scooted the house slippers over with one foot so he could put them on. "So what's going on?"

Shinichi looked towards Kaito and received a wave that said "it's your friend, you tell him," leaving the decision of how much to tell him squarely in Shinichi's hands. Kaito was going to trust _him_ even if he didn't trust Hattori yet.

Shinichi took a centering breath and nodded, accepting the responsibility. "We've got a lead on the Organization. A big one. Kid has something they want, and we're trying to figure out how to use it against them."

Hattori perked up and a grin stretched across his face. "Didn't think they'd be interested enough in jewels that you could use it against them. What's special about it?"

"And you're sure it's a jewel?" Kaito asked from his corner of the room.

Heiji shrugged easily. "You're a jewel thief, ain't ya? Finally find what you were looking for?" Kaito nodded, cautious and curious all at once. "Wondering how I knew?" he asked. "After you started impersonating the Mouris and then Kudou, I did some investigating of my own. Wanted to know whose side you were playing on, ya know? I knew you were looking for _something_. The stuff you stole was too methodical to be anything _but_ a search pattern. Still couldn't tell whose side you were on, though,"

"My own," Kaito answered without hesitation.

"I believe you," Heiji nodded. "And you got shot _at_ a lot more than you did any of the shooting. You even saved Kudou a few times, so I left you alone. You were probably insane, but I didn't think you were part of the Organization."

"You never told me _any _of this, Hattori," Shinichi pointed out, sounding affronted.

Heiji rolled his eyes. "Didn't think I had to, Kudou. I thought you'd have already put it together. Besides, Kid's usually up in your neck of the woods, and doesn't get down to Osaka all that often." He paused for a moment before a trace of wicked smile appeared and he shrugged. "That and chasing you would mean I had to deal with Hakuba on a semi-regular basis."

Kaito started laughing, collapsing across the back of the armchair as Shinichi rolled his eyes. "It's the best reason not to chase Kaitou Kid!" Heiji defended, grinning. "But seriously, why Kudou?"

Kaito took a gasping breath, pulling himself under control, and responded with a mischievous 'what-cookie-jar?' grin far wickeder than Shinichi's usual knowing smirk. "Hattori-kun, do you know any other detective that wouldn't dive for handcuffs instead of listening? Besides, it's a decent possibility that we're after the same group: Shinichi for the impromptu trip to the fountain of youth, and me because they killed my dad. And, even if they're not related, we're just not making much progress on our own. Eventually the trench coats following us are going to catch up."

"Knew there was method to the madness," Heiji snorted. "You make a lot more sense now, ya know." He stood and folded his arms across his chest. "So, do we have an actual plan to nail these guys to the wall?"

"Well … not yet," Shinichi admitted. "We're working on it."

"Hopefully we'll have it before they figure out this masquerade and that I've got their precious Stone," Kaito said, pulling Pandora from his inner pocket. "Here's our leverage, Hattori-san. They call it Pandora. And whatever it is – I know, Shinichi, you don't like my theory yet – they want it."

"Killed your dad over it, right?" Kaito nodded solemnly, and tucked the jewel away. Heiji nodded and then a thought seemed to occur to him. "What do I call you, anyway? Can't call you 'Kid', and it's going to be confusing if you're both 'Kudou'."

"You're not supposed to be calling _me_ 'Kudou' in the first place!" Shinichi glared.

Kaito grinned and held out his hand. "I'm Kaito." Heiji accepted the hand and the name, not asking for more. When he tried to let go, however, Kaito's hand tightened and his grin showed a flash of bared teeth. "But we'd better stick with 'Kudou' in public. Just remember, Heiji-kun: Shinichi growls at you when you forget. I'm a _lot_ more inventive. And I can pick locks."

Hattori reclaimed his hand and stepped back, then scratched at the back of his neck, unsettling his hat in the process. He stood quietly, and the silence stretched between them until Shinichi caught an odd look from Kaito he interpreted as: "I think we broke him, detective," and rolled his eyes. Kaito answered with a flash of smile before turning his wary curiosity back to Hattori, and Conan huffed impatiently at both of them. Hattori interrupted by clearing his throat.

He resettled his ball cap, and stuffed his hands in his pockets before speaking. "Kaito-san? You're Kaitou Kid, right?" At the other's puzzled nod, Hattori offered an embarrassed smile. "Can I get an autograph?"

Kaito raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, every nonverbal queue clearly asking why Hattori Heiji, _a_ _detective_, would want a thief's autograph. Heiji blushed, the color showing even through his dark skin tone and coughed. "Kazuha's my best friend and, well, she's a bit of a fan. I promised I'd ask if I ever met you and didn't have her along."

Kaito relaxed as he listened to the explanation and grinned. "In that case, I can do you one better," he said, and a Kid doll appeared in his hand with a puff of pink smoke, complete with jaunty grin, monocle, silk top hat, and cape. Kaito carried the doll over to a writing desk and rummaged around until he came up with a black marker, which he used to sign the cape, adding the caricature he used as a signature on his heist notes before tossing it to Heiji.

Shinichi sighed something that sounded like "magicians" before the clock in the hall struck the hour. "Hattori, we were going to take Ran to a movie tonight. If you and Kazuha-kun are free, why don't you come with us?"

"He means it's one more person to run interference between Mouri-san and me," Kaito smirked.

Heiji whistled low in understanding. "I'm amazed Nee-chan lets you leave the room without her or some sort of tracking device shackled to your ankle."

"We've managed to avoid anything more embarrassing than shopping duty with one Suzuki Sonoko," Kaito said. "Which I'm hoping was bad enough penance that Mouri-san will be merciful from now on so long as my miniature chaperone is with me." He pointed a thumb downwards at Conan. "Still, I agree with Kudou. You should come with us tonight."

"Yeah, all right," Heiji nodded, tucking the Kid doll out of sight. "I just hope you two are really close to a cure for terminal shortness, or this is going to blow up in all our faces."

.oOo.

"Of course you know this means war." Shinichi addressed the two grinning idiots in front of him while attempting to smooth his hair back down from where it was sticking up wildly. In all, it looked like a giant cat had just finished grooming him. Droplets of water dripped off the spiky points caused by every freed cowlick in his hair wrenching the strands every which way as it dried. And he was shivering as he sloshed after Kaito, who was leading the way towards a low wall.

"Why?" Kaito snorted. "Because you're an ungraceful twerp?" He sank against the wall and reached up to snag Shinichi's shoulder, tugging the smaller boy down next to him. Shinichi grumbled, but felt less out of sorts as the heat from the sun-baked concrete enveloped and warmed him. He heard more than saw Hattori drop down on his other side.

"You were the ones chasing me," Shinichi said after a moment.

"And threatening to drop you into the nearest koi pond," Kaito agreed merrily, pulling one of his leg in so he could rest his chin on his knee. "I didn't think you'd actually trip into it on your own, though."

"You were going to drop me in it anyway!" Shinichi groused, mood darkening a bit more as Kaito responded with an unrepentant smile.

"Maybe, maybe not," Kaito shrugged, a wicked grin tugging at his lips. "We'll never know now, will we?"

"Nee-chan and Kazuha will probably give us hell for it anyway," Heiji snorted, reaching over to ruffle Shinichi's hair, making it stick up even more. Shinichi hissed and batted at his friend's hand.

"That's likely," Kaito said as a comb appeared in front of Shinichi's nose, held between the thief's nimble fingers. Shinichi regarded it with no small amount of suspicion, wondering if it would somehow bleach his hair, or do something equally embarrassing the moment he touched it. Kaito sighed, but the sound had a definite trace of laughter to it. "It's just a comb, detective."

Shinichi regarded it suspiciously until Kaito solved the stand-off by dropping the comb into Shinichi's hair where it caught in one of the tangles. Shinichi squawked, and grabbed at it, pulling it free and wincing as he pulled a few hairs out at the same time.

"Y'know," Heiji started, looking around them idly. "This is as good a place to meet the girls as any. Why don't you go find them and bring them back, Kai…" he swallowed as Kaito's sharp eyes narrowed in warning and corrected himself, "Kudou? By the time you get back, Conan should be dry."

Kaito blinked, then a slow smile curved across his lips and he uncurled his body before levering himself to his feet. "Sure, send me into the lioness's den," he mocked gently. "Don't trip over any murders while I'm gone." He was smiling, but his eyes were serious and Conan rolled his eyes. They waited for a few minutes after Kaito had vanished down the walking path back the way they had run earlier, which was also the direction in which they had left both Ran and Kazuha, happily browsing their way through several small shops.

Shinichi pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, watching as Heiji pulled himself up, listening intently and checking their surroundings. Kid's choice of resting spot was good, he had to admit: a deserted patch of wall that was both warm and off the path. He couldn't hear or see anyone in the immediate vicinity, and the spot offered clear line of sight and an escape or shield over the short wall.

"He's good at it," Hattori said, pulling the brim of his hat lower over his eyes and shrugging when Shinichi glanced towards him. "Making me forget he's a criminal. Kid's good at it."

"You think he's just playing a part?" Shinichi glanced up at Hattori, curious, and saw the other boy shake his head.

"When he's being you? Yeah. But when he stops botherin', he's not. I think he's bein' more honest with us than he is with most. He needs help. He asked for your help and, when it comes down to it, I think we need his help too. He's good at more than just playactin'." Hattori reached up and tugged his cap lower across his eyes. "Just keep your head on straight around him. Everyone else gets so lost in the flash and the smoke they think he's some sort of ghost. Or, they buy into his tricks being real magic."

"He likes it when I unravel them," Shinichi told him. "Kid enjoys it when he knows the audience is enjoying it. He's been making sure I can figure it out lately."

"That makes us the audience?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Further conversation halted as the scrape of shoes and chatter of female voices caught their attention, heralding the return of Kaito and the girls. The three appeared, Kaito chattering at Ran and gesturing wildly from where he walked on the opposite side of Kazuha. Ran and Kazuha were both laughing at whatever he was telling them. From the splashing it looked like he was pantomiming, Shinichi figured it was the story of his impromptu swim.

Grumbling, Shinichi dropped his chin on his knees. "And the show must go on, I guess."

.oOo.

It was dark by the time they said goodbye to Heiji and Kazuha, leaving them to catch a bus to their hotel while Kaito escorted Ran and Shinichi home. The walk back to the Mouri Detective agency was quiet and comfortable, interspersed with conversations and no mention of Sherlock Holmes.

After leaving the other two – and avoiding Ran's father who seemed to all but grow fangs and horns in his presence – Kaito traveled the becoming-familiar route between the Mouri home and the Kudou house at a leisurely walk.

Kaito slipped past the front gate, shoes scraping on the stones along the pathway to the front door, and entered the silent house, making another mental note to eventually get a door key as he stretched out the day's accumulated kinks.

The door whished shut behind him and clicked with the unmistakable sound of a lock turning. Kaito twisted to see who had closed it, expecting to see anything from Shinichi to Koizumi standing there, but saw only the closed door several paces behind him.

"Kuroba Toichi?" a voice asked behind him, and Kaito turned, but again saw nothing. "No … Kuroba _Kaito._" Now it laughed a humorless, menacing sound. "Or perhaps I'll just call you Kaitou Kid."

A white mask appeared in the darkness of a near doorway, suspended eerily just above eyelevel. Or … it was a trick. Kaito squinted and could just make out the long form of a man wearing the mask, cloaked in heavy black, and he glint of stray light on gunmetal.

The weight of his card gun pressed against his back, hidden from easy notice. Kaito slowly tensed, mind racing and taking stock of what he could do. The slightest twitch of his hands toward his jacket rewarded him with a tightening of the intruder's finger on the trigger, leaving his card gun out of reach, and he'd left most of Kid's tricks, even his doves, behind.

Kaito's eyes flicked around the hall, his attention eventually catching on the stack of letters he'd placed on the hall's end table that afternoon and a lighter he'd claimed from Hattori earlier that evening. If he was quick and his luck held, he had a distraction with only a bit of collateral damage to the junk mail and the floor tiles.

"Yuusaku!" The name snapped through the darkness, making Kaito and his attacker start. A pop of air sounded and Kaito felt an impact between his eyes just as the lights clicked on. "Why are all the lights off?"

Kaito stumbled, feet entangled in an unstable mess of strings and wide nails, and crashed into the wall. The impact rattled him enough that he allowed himself to slide down, hands feeling for the things that had tripped him. Shoes, he realized, as his questing fingers wrapped around a slim heel. "Kaito?" He heard hurried footsteps coming toward him and he cringed back as the warmth of a hand brushed across his face, and something pulled at the skin of his forehead. "Sweetie! Are you okay?"

"Mom?" he ventured, opening his eyes to Kuroba Chikage brandishing a sticky dart in the face of a laughing man draped in an overly-dramatic black cloak and holding a dart gun in one hand and a white mask in the other.

"Kudou Yuusaku, I can't believe you!"

"Kudou?" Kaito echoed, scrambling back to his feet, shoe in hand. "As in …" Kaito trailed off with a frustrated sigh. "I am going to start lobbing sleep grenades in the door before I come in this house. What is it with detectives jumping me today?"

"Your uncle's just being an overdramatic idiot," his mother said, taking the shoe from him and putting it back beside its mate in the entryway. Then she hugged him, and Kaito found himself with a double armful of Kuroba Chikage, her messy brown hair tickling his nose and the familiar scent of her lavender soap surrounding them both.

"My uncle?" Kaito asked, pulling away in shock. Torn between saying "Kudou" and "I have an uncle?" and it came out more like "Nnnghr?" and both Kudou and his mother started laughing. Kaito cleared his throat and tried again. "You're my uncle?"

"Toichi was my younger brother," Yuusaku told him, setting the white mask on the end of the stair banister and coming forward to hold out his hand. "I'm sorry you haven't known me, or Shinichi, before now."

"So I _am_ related to the Detective!" Kaito asked, switching his attention to his mother, eyes narrowing in sudden suspicion. "And you knew! Even when I told you I was going to ground as Shinichi, you knew he was my cousin and you didn't say anything! Why not, mom? Shinichi's needed someone _here_ for a long time. Why didn't I even know I _had_ a cousin?"

"It's … well, it's a story for tomorrow," his mother told him firmly. "I think we should tell you and Shinichi at the same time."

"Mom …" Kaito started, but was cut off by a hug and a push as his mother started guiding him up the stairs.

"Kaito, I'm proud of you and I'm sure you and Shinichi will both want to yell at us. And you'll get your chance, but Hawaii is three hours ahead of Tokyo and it's three in the morning for Yuusaku and me. Your aunt Yukiko is already asleep, in fact, and there is a lot to tell both you _and_ Shinichi-kun, but it's going to wait until morning."

"I'm calling Shinichi over first thing in the morning. Even if we have to bribe Hattori into distracting the girls. And you'll tell us everything else you know."

Yuusaku, who had been shadowing the pair silently, looked pointedly over Kaito's head at the elder Kuroba, and Kaito didn't miss it. The look was significant and telling, though he wasn't yet sure what it meant. His mother answered with a wry twist of a smile and a nod. "Agreed, Kaito," she answered. "We'll tell you everything."

* * *

**Kat's Notes:** And there we go! The not-strong chapter that was hopefully readable and at least occasionally fun. The boys are related, which you probably saw coming. But no worries, since that little fact won't magically make everything better between them. That wouldn't be much fun at all.

I've had a few people say they find this aspect of the story squicky. Um... sorry? It kind of spawned the entire fic because it made a scary amount of sense in the context of the manga. That, and Risa dared me to write it, and so write it I did. If you've made it this far, hopefully you are not too squicked out to continue.

Next chapter will be up on time if I have anything at all to say about it. Thanks everyone for being patient. And thanks go to Midoriko-sama for being the fastest beta-reader ever for this mess. And to both her and Risa for looking through it and sending me right back to add scenes I was trying to avoid.


	7. Skeletons in the Closet

**Chapter 7: Skeletons in the Closet**

_"__Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice__"_

~ Unknown ~

.oOo.

His cell phone jangling at him (far earlier in the morning than he felt like waking up) yanked Heiji out of his dream-filled oblivion. He dragged himself half out of the bed, and fumbled through his jacket to find the obnoxious ringing object.

"Hattori!" Kuroba's voice sounded over the line the moment Heiji answered, sounding far too awake.

"Ku … Kudo?" Sleepy as he was, Heiji caught himself before identifying the pest as Kuroba. "Do ya have any idea what time it is?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but I needed to catch you before the girls decided to book the day solid. Can you distract Mouri-san this morning? Take her to watch Kazuha-kun's meet or something? I need Conan with me today and I don't want to have to drag him to Hokkaido or hide with the curtains drawn and hope she doesn't just kick the door down when she can't find us."

"Nee-chan wouldn't do that," Heiji said, chuckling at the image and the thief's paranoia, "unless you gave her a real good reason. You planning on disappearing again?'

"Just for today," Kaito promised, sounding a bit too cheerful about the prospect. "Conan's going to spend the day with his parents, since they just showed up in town, and apparently he has a habit of escaping from his mother and playing in traffic. They recruited me to hold him still."

He heard something off in the thief's voice – a cheer that was stretched too thin for an actor as skilled as Kid – and it nudged him further awake by the second. There was an expectant silence on the other end of the phone and Heiji whistled, deciding to drop the act. "What are you planning to tell that poor kid? He's never going to get taller and you're his twin brother or something?"

Kuroba took a deep breath and let it out in a sound somewhere between a laugh and a frayed sigh before answering. "We're all hoping he gets a growth spurt soon, Hattori. But we're not brothers. Just like Conan-kun's always said: we're cousins."

.oOo.

_This has been one of my weirder mornings,_ Shinichi thought as he let himself into the Kudo house. Heiji had shown up in the middle of breakfast and invited Ran to watch Kazuha's tournament with him. She had called "Shinichi" to see if he wanted to come as well, but been told his parents were in town and that he wouldn't be able to make it, since they wanted him to spend the day with them.

Heiji had then dragged Shinichi aside and told him he wanted details later or he would drop kick him off the nearest roof and see if he could fly too. Ran had noticed them before Shinichi could force Heiji to explain that. She had said she would be glad to go cheer on Kazuha, and they'd been interrupted _again_ as Shinichi's phone rang, and it had been Mitsuhiko saying the Detective Boys had a case, and they needed Shinichi. Except Shinichi was willing to bet the voice on the other end of the line didn't belong to Mitsuhiko at all, but to a certain thief with a knack for impersonating other people. The hunch had been confirmed a moment later when "Mitsuhiko" told him that Pandora-san would be disappointed if he couldn't make it and that they were meeting at Ai's house.

In short order, Shinichi found himself turned loose with his skateboard for the trip to the professor's house, while Ran was dragged off by the Osakan detective to watch martial arts. Shinichi had made it to his former home in record time, arriving at an hour that must have been early by the nocturnal standards he had seen Kaito adopt. He didn't bother knocking, and let himself in and found a Kaito ambling down the stairs, yawning. This, Shinichi thought with amusement, was the creature in its natural habitat. Kaito wasn't even making a token effort at being Kudo Shinichi this morning, and his hair was flying around like it had been attacked by wind demons in the night.

"Morning, Shinichi," Kaito yawned, waving idly as he continued on his way toward the kitchen. Shinichi removed his shoes, dropped them next to a pair of women's heels, and followed. Once in the kitchen, Shinichi found the zombies.

Three adults and one teenaged thief had gathered around to worship the coffeemaker. Or that's what it looked like to Shinichi as he saw his father lurking next to the machine, waiting for it to deliver, and the other three in varying states of alertness, from Kaito with his chin resting on his crossed arms and his cup parked in front of him, to Shinichi's mother Yukiko, who was sipping at a cup of tea and reading the variety section of the morning newspaper. She was the only one who even approached looking ready for the day.

It didn't take long until she spotted him either, and Shinichi found himself scooped up into a hug. "Shin-chan! You're here early."

Shinichi squawked and started thrashing to be let down. His mother landed an embarrassing peck on his cheek before she released him, and the faux child dropped to the floor with a muffled thud, scrambling a bit to keep his footing

"Not really, Kudo-san," Kaito said, lifting his head a bit from his arms. "Hattori probably showed up at the Mouri's place about ten minutes after I called him."

"_You_ called …" Shinichi started, looking confused as his mother interrupted.

"Kaito-kun," Yukiko turned back, pinning Kaito with a severe look over Shinichi's mussed hair. "You are not supposed to call me Kudo-san!"

Kaito grinned and ducked his head in mock contriteness. "Sorry, Yukiko-oba-san."

_Mom's crazy but, 'Aunt Yukiko'? She warmed up to Kuroba awfully fast. _Shinichi sent a confused look between Kaito, his mother, and finally to his father – who was now watching in mild interest.

A ding from the coffeemaker distracted everyone's attention momentarily, and Shinichi found himself deposited in a chair with Kaito setting a full mug in front of him. "I'd blow on it for you, but you'd probably kill me and hide the body," Kaito chuckled, stepping out of Shinichi's immediate range and into the path of a woman with damp, messy hair as she entered the kitchen. She rolled her eyes as he abruptly switched directions and went to claim her own cup of coffee from the carafe. Kaito's grin brightened with excitement, and he waited just long enough for her to finish pouring before he draped an arm around her shoulder in a half-hug and introduced her. "Shinichi, this is my mom, Kuroba Chikage. Mom, that is Edogawa Conan, née Kudo Shinichi. Believe it or not, he's older than I am."

"By a few months," she said, before taking a drink from her coffee mug. "I remember when Toichi got a birth announcement from Yukiko. Good morning, Shinichi-kun."

"Ah … good morning, Kuroba-san," Shinichi answered. That, Shinichi thought, was an odd way to phrase it. Kaito had mentioned that his mother liked Kudo Yuusaku's books, but it was Kudo Yukiko that knew the Kurobas; Shinichi's _mother_, not his father. Some shred of instinct whispered to him as he looked at Kaito's mom, with eyes every bit as clever and mischievous as her son's, and said that she didn't make slips of the tongue any more than Kaito did. "I guess it's time to talk about all those things you didn't want to talk about over the phone."

"Among other things," Kaito said, sliding into the chair next to Shinichi with an anticipatory grin on his face. "High time, right, Yuusaku-ji-san?"

"I am going to start breakfast for all of us while the others give you a bit of history," Kaito's mother declared, moving across the room to the stove and setting her coffee mug beside it.

"You were the most involved with all the elements, Chikage," Yuusaku objected, pouring what looked like his second cup. "Shouldn't you be the one to tell this story?"

"You're the storyteller here, Yuusaku," Kuroba-san called back over her shoulder. "I'll just fill in when needed."

He gave in with a sigh and settled back in his chair. "Well then … where to start? You've probably already figured out that I knew the first Kaitou Kid was Kuroba Toichi." Shinichi nodded cautiously, the motion mirrored more cheerfully by Kaito. "And I obviously didn't turn him into the police."

"Were you working with him?" Shinichi asked, casting a wry glance at the thief sitting next to him.

"Like you are with Kaito-kun?" A dry smile appeared on his face. "Not exactly, son. But I did know about the Syndicate, and I knew Toichi's death wasn't an accident. I also wasn't allowed anywhere near the crime scene or the evidence. I couldn't press too far into it without looking suspicious, and then I had you, your mother, and … your aunt and cousin to worry about."

Shinichi's eyes narrowed, partly at his father's revelation but partly at the knowing grin Kaito was trying to hide behind his mug. "My _what_?"

Now Kaito's grin made sense, Shinichi thought, staring at them in horrified comprehension. Kaito caught his eye. "It turns out there is a good reason it's easy to impersonate you."

"So … you … wait … what?!" Shinichi sputtered, wrapping his mind around the idea he'd been avoiding since Koizumi Akako had brought it up the day before. Questions spun through his mind, but finally settled on: "You didn't just know who Kaitou Kid was. You were working with him?" He sat staring hard at his father. "But … you chased him!"

Yuusaku laughed outright. "Of course I did! And I was trying to catch him, Shinichi, make no mistake about that. Anything less would have been an insult to Toichi."

"But what if you'd caught him?" Shinichi pressed. "You were going to turn him in?"

"If he'd been caught he would have deserved it," Yuusaku said. "But that's why I chased him: Toichi and I were always each other's greatest challenge, and who else was going to take responsibility for keeping him sharp? Nakamori?" Kaito and Shinichi both snorted into their coffee at this. "By the time Kid was building his reputation, we were both settling into new identities, and the chases were a way to stand in the middle." Yuusaku shook his head and laughed suddenly. "I changed his international criminal number, 1412, into the letters K-I-D. It was a joke, supposed to irritate him a little. After all, he may have become an internationally recognized thief, but he was still my little brother."

"He came home all but bouncing when he told me about it," Chikage said, bringing several plates to the table and placing them in front of the two boys first. "He bought several copies of the paper, and got his hands on the official reports that first used the name. He definitely wasn't offended. You, however, are stalling."

"So I am," Yuusaku agreed, stirring a fresh lump of sugar into his mug and watching it dissolve with mild interest. "But this isn't a story that's easily told. First let me go back closer to the beginning of my life. Toichi and I were irregulars in every sense of the word. We weren't born Kudo Yuusaku and Kuroba Toichi. That came later and, to be honest, we assumed so many names and identities through those early years that finally staying with one took some getting used to."

He rubbed at the back of his neck and kept his attention on the table in front of them. Shinichi watched through the short silence with wide eyes, and his knuckles were white from where they strangled his mug.

"We were criminals," Yuusaku said, simply and with a touch of dignity Shinichi didn't share. "That was the most lucrative form of survival available to us at the time, Shinichi, and it's how we fell in with the Syndicate. It grows by recruitment: absorbing smaller groups or individuals that look promising and useful. I don't know if they ever realized Toichi and I knew we were being cautiously recruited. The Syndicate always works through intermediaries until it actually has you in hand. By then it's usually far too late, but my specialty was forgery and Toichi was a master of disguise. Both of us could read people, and the ones setting up those jobs were dangerous. Eventually we realized we were dancing with more than disaster. This was evil itself."

"You don't just walk away from the Syndicate," Shinichi said quietly, pushing his mug away. "Everyone I know that's tried either went back, or didn't survive."

"We weren't part of it then," Yuusaku answered. "Not yet. But now you see why your mother and I wanted you to come back to America with us. I knew what you'd landed yourself into, and I wasn't convinced 'Edogawa Conan' would be enough to hide you. Toichi and I had to vanish, utterly. We changed our names, and our professions. Our old lives ceased to exist as anything more than data ghosts to send them chasing off to other countries." Kudo Yuusaku tilted his mug, swirling the dark liquid inside of it for several breaths before he said anything more. "But you're right. You don't just walk away from the Syndicate. Not without inside help."

"And that," Chikage said, pulling out a chair and seating herself, "is where I will need to fill in a few of the gaps for you two. You see, I was once known as Absinthe."

Shinichi's hand flattened against the table and he tensed. "You're one of them?!"

"Mom?" Shinichi didn't spare a look at Kaito, but he definitely couldn't hear Poker Face in the thief's voice, just a horrified sort of confusion. Kuroba-san herself was doing a much better job of holding on to her composure.

"I _was _one of them," she corrected. "It's been over twenty years since then, but at the time I worked as a chemist, heading research into new serums and drugs. During the time Yuusaku and Toichi were being scouted as new members, Toichi took on an apprentice: a member of the Syndicate's controlling faction named Sharon Vineyard." Shinichi's sudden shift of posture caught her attention and she smiled humorlessly. "You know her. And you know she's also called Vermouth?" A slow, guarded nod responded to the question. "She was my cousin and already a favorite of the boss. But I was … curious," she admitted it with a slightly embarrassed smile. "I usually read up on anyone being brought in with potential, all of us did, but Toichi was unusual. He was very charming, and not as edged as the other members of the Syndicate. I found excuses to be around when he was instructing Vermouth, and I watched from a safe distance. He noticed, of course."

"He pointed you out to me once or twice," Yuusaku added thoughtfully. "Toichi thought you were stalking him."

"I was," she allowed. "And to this day I don't know why he went out of his way to befriend a socially inept scientist."

"He liked your eyes," Yuusaku supplied with a smirk. "And, once we figured out what kind of pit we'd stumbled into, we were working on stumbling right back out. You were the one he thought didn't belong there."

"And inside help never hurts, right Dad?" Shinichi added with a dark edge to his voice at the charm his father was using to cover the unspoken parts of his answer. "Kuroba-san, you were all right with being used like that?"

She smiled at him. "Used? Shinichi, it was an exchange: help bought and paid for before we parted ways. It took three years to escape; to plant the records in systems I had access to that would have any pursuit racing after false trails and distract their watchdogs. I had to establish a 'normal appearance' extreme enough I could drop it fairly easily when the time came: various contacts to regularly change my eye-color and red streaks died into my hair, which I kept ruthlessly straight and short." She absently fingered a bit of the long strands resembling Kaito's in wild disarray. "While Vermouth returned and reported that Toichi and Yuusaku both would be excellent additions to the group. I think their code names were even picked out when Yuusaku vanished, and Toichi was captured."

"No one's ever caught Kid!" Kaito and Shinichi objected together, drawing a sudden laugh from the three adults.

"He wasn't Kid yet," Yuusaku commented idly. "He was still just a normal, albeit very talented, burglar. The capture was high profile, though, and that's what we wanted. His name and face were splashed across every newspaper we could talk into running the story, along with the identity of the detective that caught him." Yuusaku grinned and bowed to them from his seat. "Me. Kudo Yuusaku."

"You arrested your own brother?" Kaito yelped, matching Shinichi's look of shock.

"Yes, I did. And then I left the key to his handcuffs where he could reach it." Yuusaku grimaced. "His habit of dislocating his thumbs always made my skin crawl. And he would have been embarrassed, if we hadn't been the ones writing, orchestrating, and performing the whole thing. It made him a security risk to the Syndicate, and they assumed I'd disappeared to avoid being caught as well.

"Absinthe wasn't the only one that spent the time slowly changing her appearance, and I had created new identities for all three of us, and Toichi's antics gave us breathing room. After that, we started separate lives as Kuroba Toichi and Kudo Yuusaku. I began writing mystery novels, Toichi started making an honest name for himself as a magician, and eventually he took on another apprentice."

"Me," Yukiko beamed then slyly cast a look in her husband's direction. "By total chance met my teacher's older brother when he showed up at the filming of a spy movie."

They watched Yuusaku roll his eyes and laugh into his coffee. "Mainly because I wanted to yell at Toichi for the extremely flashy persona he'd created and started flapping around in the night as. But he wasn't there. He'd vanished just before I could catch him."

"He was in Italy," Chikage said. "Kid was after a painting, and I was working at the museum as a docent while studying art at the University of Florence."

Shinichi was studying Kaito's mother intently, a slight frown working at his lips. "Another part of your disguise?"

He earned a mischievous smile and a nod for the observation. "Art was the furthest thing I could think from my previous work for the Syndicate. They were looking for a mad scientist, not a struggling teenage artist."

"And you know what the best part of all this is?" Kaito interrupted conversationally. Shinichi turned, saw the thief's expression, and hunched over, looking like he was dreading the answer to the question. "Our whole family is full of scoundrels, thieves, and ne'er-do-wells. No wonder Shinichi attracts so much trouble!"

"I don't attract trouble!" Shinichi argued, glaring at his cousin, whose eyebrows arched in questioning disbelief and he looked _down_ pointedly.

"Your mother's family is mostly law abiding," Yuusaku commented, interrupting the quarrel before it could gain steam. "They're just drama geeks and musicians. I think one of them is a dentist … Ow!" Yukiko folded her arms after smacking him and glared. "Okay, we won't talk about the dentist!"

"You do take after your father, Shin-chan," his mother said, still glaring a bit at her husband.

"Not in criminal activities I don't!" Shinichi defended, folding his arms sulkily.

Kaito cleared his throat, the grin not budging as he held up a hand and started counting. "Assault, impersonation, breaking and entering a few times that I know of, withholding evidence, interfering in various police investigations …You're not exactly innocent as the driven snow, Shinichi," Kaito reminded him, tapping the smaller boy on the head. "And we can add forgery, hacking, and tampering with government records. Or do you think Edogawa Conan just spontaneously appeared by divine intervention?"

"I … I figured Agasa had done it," Shinichi admitted, looking down at his plate and pushing the food around with his chopsticks. "I guess it wasn't the professor, was it?"

"Some of it, yes," Yuusaku told him, nodding. "But it wasn't until I knew what had happened that I was able to really solidify Conan's existence for you. We said the paperwork had just been delayed and implanted arrival dates and passport information for you in case anyone went looking for them. You needed a passport as well as a birth certificate for when we took you back to America. Which was the plan at that point, son."

"But you didn't make me go," Shinichi said. "And you knew what I was getting into."

"All too well," his father confirmed. "That's why I appeared as the Night Baron. It reminded _me_ of what you were facing, and hopefully would scare _you_ into leaving it alone."

"Thanks for reminding me about …" Shinichi's eyes widened and he looked up as a thought occurred to him, and the Night Baron's image flashed across his mind. "So the Night Barron was based on Kaitou Kid!"

"Yes, he was another joke between Toichi and me. And another reason I wanted you to leave the Organization alone. You couldn't take them down alone. Toichi and I couldn't do it together, even with him trying to drag them into the spotlight as Kid, and me attacking them through my connections in Interpol. The best we managed was to get a few people interested in the case, and those had a high mortality rate." Yuusaku's eyes switched to his nephew and they looked regretful. "Kaito, your father was never alone. He had me, and he had your mother. But even then, they eventually caught up with him."

Kaito and Shinichi exchanged glances then looked forward with determination. "Dad didn't have Pandora," Kaito said. "And we think it might be related to Shinichi's new lease on life. Even if we didn't …"

"It's leverage," Shinichi finished for him. "And no one else has leverage against them. And this is still our case, Kaito's and mine. And we're still going to solve it."

.oOo.

The classroom was quiet, which was in itself an aberration of normality in Ekoda. Kuroba's desk sat conspicuously empty, the magician absent again as he had been every day for the last two weeks. He was abroad, or so Aoko reported: out of the country with his mother as chaperone and visiting family while doing some globe trotting on the way back. It was a calculatedly innocent explanation for Kuroba's long absence from classes.

More to the point, Kaitou Kid was also absent from Japan, and had apparently changed the rules of the game, keeping everything he had stolen in a handful of countries over the last three weeks. It was like the thief had suddenly realized he didn't _have_ to give things back after he had stolen them. Or perhaps he was just trying to complete some sort of arcane collection before returning all the stolen items. Hakuba knew there was also a chance that Kid had found what he was looking for somewhere along the way, and everything since then was just a diversionary tactic of some sort, or that he was up to something else entirely. If there was one thing Hakuba was completely sure of it was that Kid was up to something; even if that something was just driving the detective and inspector chasing him to climb walls with the serious shift in _Modus Operandi_.

It should have been enough for Hakuba himself to take up the chase and pursue the thief. He knew Nakamori wanted to, jurisdiction be damned, just as he knew the inspector's superiors would never agree to the demand. Hakuba himself was staying for a more troubling reason: Koizumi Akako had taken to watching Nakamori Aoko in a speculatively predatory way that had the finer hairs on his neck rising.

Kuroba Kaito was invariably linked to the would-be sorceress's interest in Aoko. Hakuba had dismissed the quiet rivalry between the girls as an extension of Koizumi's obsession with Kuroba rather than any genuine interest in the magician's childhood friend. With Kuroba gone, there was no reason for Akako's focus to shift so fully onto Aoko. The interest should be gone along with Kuroba, but it wasn't. Worst of all, Aoko herself didn't seem to notice, so Hakuba watched where she would not, staying while his greatest challenge ran rampant in the wider world. And wondered all the while: _Kuroba, where _are_ you?_

* * *

**Kat's Notes:** Cookies if you caught the Darkwing Duck reference up there. I feel like I should apologize for yet another talky chapter. I promise there will be more action in the next one. If nothing else, Akako's obviously up to something.

And eventually, I will get back on my posting schedule! I'm determined to! As always, tell me if any of the words get run together or anything. I do check, but the site loves to muck things up and I usually miss a few of them.


	8. Watch Your Liquor

I just now remembered what needs to go up here! The disclaimer! Things looked kind of unbalanced before... Anyway, you can find it in chapter 1. Still applies.

* * *

.: **Chapter 8: Watch Your Liquor **:.

"_Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face.__"_

~ Nelson DeMille ~

.oOo.

The door didn't _quite_ slam behind them when Shinichi and Kaito entered the Kudou home late in the afternoon. There was, however, a reverberating silence that hung in the air, like the stillness and uncanny quiet that descends the instant before a storm breaks.

The two parted company at the entryway; Kaito loosening and finally abandoning the tie of his school uniform and heading up the stairs while Shinichi removed his glasses, letting them clatter to the table in the entryway. He waited until Kaito had vanished at the top of the stairs before ascending them himself, intent on the library and curling up with a detective novel. Preferably, he wanted one where an insufferable, uncatchable thief got caught.

"Whoa, all is not well in Doppelganger Land, I see," Heiji said, looking up from where he was sprawled across the library couch as Shinichi stormed in. The comment brought the detective up short.

"Hattori?"

"Thought you headed back to Osaka already," Kaito said, coming up behind his cousin and now dressed in faded jeans and a shirt.

Heiji shrugged easily. "Eh, we were, but Kazuha decided at the last second she and Nee-chan had forgotten something. I decided on a strategic retreat."

Kaito snorted, tossing himself into a chair and plucking one of the slimmer files out of the pile Heiji had strewn across the table. "You ducked away from the girls and hid out here?"

"It's better than being their packhorse," Heiji nodded, setting down the folder he was going through. "Kudou's dad left me reading material though. Seems he's been gathering information on the Organization for years. But what's up with you two?"

"Nothing," Shinichi said, shaking his head and heading for the shelves furthest away from Kaito. It didn't go unnoticed.

"Yeah, clearly nothing," Heiji said, looking from one boy to the other. Kaito was glaring openly at the back of Shinichi's head. "C'mon you two, what's going on? What happened?"

"The murder magnet struck again," Kaito grumbled, pointing at Shinichi. "Which got us both dragged into the police station."

"Okay, I get you not liking the police, Kuroba, but a murder is not really a strange occurrence for Kudou," Heiji noted, looking confused as he tried to piece together the issue from what they were saying. "Did the murderer get away or something?"

There was a derisive snort from both Shinichi and Kaito at that. Of course the murder didn't get away. Heiji waited it out, letting the silence hang until finally one of them cracked.

"There was a heist note from Kaito Kid being passed around at the police station," Shinichi said, still ignoring Kaito, whose glare had shifted to a look of exasperation.

He threw up his hands, miraculously not tumbling out of the chair. "A _fake_ heist note, Shinichi! I didn't send it! I have no reason to send it! I'm retired! And we both have more things to worry about than whether or not I decided to go play 'Dogpile on the Bandit' with Nakamori and his goon squad!" Kaito rolled to his feet from his chair and folded his arms. "In case you've forgotten, I got what I was after!"

"The police don't know that," Shinichi said. "You admitted that it looked pretty real, and they've all bought into it."

"Looked real but _wasn't_! And I think I am the real expert here on Kid Heist Notes, thanks very much," Kaito returned icily. "It did look good. Snaps to whoever has so thoroughly copycatted my style. But you're blaming me for getting my reputation stolen!"

"Poetic, isn't it?"

Heiji stood and interposed himself between the two of them. "Hold it, you two!" he held up hands to both of them.

"Hattori!" they both protested, and received rolled eyes from the Osakan detective in response.

"Yeah, go ahead and whine, but I'm going to send you to opposite corners without snack time if you don't stop! Now, seriously, what's the deal here? People have impersonated Kid before."

"Whoever's idiot enough to try it _now_ is going to get killed," Kaito pointed out, "or captured, and I am not letting my reputation go up the tubes like that if it's the police, or leaving them to the mercies of a murderous syndicate if it's not."

Heiji raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, looking at his fellow detective expectantly. "Shinichi? You still think Kaito's behind this whole thing?"

"I …" Shinichi hesitated then looked at the carefully dispassionate expression Kaito was watching him with and deflated. "You enjoy being Kid."

"Yeah, I do," Kaito agreed. "But what's that got to do with any of this?" Unspoken hung: "and why are you being so prickly about it _now_? That's what I really don't get."

Shinichi dropped to the floor in front of the bookshelves, leaning back so his head rested against the spines. "You're a _thief_, Kaito, as much as I'm a detective and ... I don't know if you can stop stealing any more than I can stop solving cases."

"Then this isn't about the heist," Kaito said carefully, "It's about staring into the abyss. You're afraid it's staring back."

Shinichi flinched and looked down. Hattori looked alarmed, but Kaito intercepted him and waved him back before stepping past, where he dropped into an easy crouch beside Shinichi. "I am a magician, Shinichi," Kaito told him. "And a thief, yes. I love the adrenaline and following in my dad's footsteps. The police are the best audience ever. _But_," he held up a hand to stall Shinichi who had opened his mouth to say something, "that doesn't mean I'm a pathological kleptomaniac. I don't even keep what I steal! I became Kid to catch my father's murderers, and to find that jewel. The excitement is just a really nice bonus and keeping up with _you_, little cousin, is plenty of excitement for me. I don't think you're becoming evil."

Shinichi snorted and rolled his eyes at Kaito. Heiji looked oddly amused at the conversation, and stuck a hand in his pocket.

"So … either of you get a copy of this supposed heist note?" Heiji asked. "Whoever's impersonating Kid's going to catch it, since we can be sure the Organization will go after anyone they think is carrying Pandora."

"_I'm_ not even carrying it," Kaito pointed out with a shake of his head. "There's still a chance someone from the Organization will catch up to us; either by figuring out the ruse, or deciding to finish the job with Kudou Shinichi. If they do that, it's going to _stay_ lost."

Shinichi's nose wrinkled and he folded his arms in a sulk. "And they wouldn't let us take a copy of it."

"But they gave me a really good look at it," Kaito said, bounding over to the room's desk and stealing a sheet of paper and a marker out of the drawers. He scribbled several lines out on the paper, finally adding his signature caricature before capping the marker and sliding it across the surface of the table so the other two could see it. "There," he said. "_Now_ it's a heist note written by Kaitou Kid. Even if it's something I've already stolen."

"You only stole half of the set," Shinichi noted, tracing a line of the note with one finger. "'The forsaken sapphire will join the red captive of the wizard.' You stole the ruby, and left the sapphire."

"I stole them both, and checked them on site," Kaito corrected him. "It was a full moon that night. By the time I got to the rooftop, I could see Pandora shining, so I tossed the Rudra Sapphire back to Kakunoshin-san."

"And?" Hattori pressed. "I haven't heard much about this heist, but is there any reason anyone should think you decided to go back after this jewel you'd already stolen?"

Kaito looked away, rubbing at the back of his neck before he shrugged with a hint of self-consciousness. "Not really. I told Kakunoshin 'maybe later, no need to be greedy' and 'I think I'll keep this one for now'. It was banter! It's part of my charm."

Shinichi was glaring again, and Kaito threw up one hand in exasperation. "What was I supposed to say, Shinichi? 'This is the jewel I've been looking for! I'm retiring now and destroying your ruby for the stone that's weeping tears of immortality inside it! So long, and good night!' maybe? Kakunoshin was civilized about the entire heist and he asked me to return it when I was finished with it."

"But it's the one you won't be returning."

"The gems were set as the pommel stones in a pair of swords, and I'm going to return the sword. Eventually," Kaito shrugged. "If the Syndicate suspected I'd found the thing, I didn't want to confirm it by giving the sword back without its largest red jewel. But I'm not giving the gem back unless I get a replica made and he'll know it's a fake. But, if we clean all this mess up, I'd rather he just have the reputation of the one gem Kaitou Kid never gave back."

"Kaito …" Shinichi growled.

"What?" Kaito frowned defensively. "I don't like keeping the thing either, but I like confirming I have Pandora even less!"

"So … June 21st?" Heiji hazarded, interrupting before the patched-up truce disintegrated again. "That's the longest day of the year, so who ever wrote this thing is going to attempt flashy suicide that day."

"Happy birthday to me," Kaito snorted, turning it into a grin as he caught Shinichi's blink of surprise. "Heists on birthdays are a mess. Everyone expects you to put in an appearance and stay for the party. I held one on Aoko's birthday last year and I've sworn them off."

"Great timing for this one, then," Heiji said, nodding towards the note that lay between them.

Shinichi looked up, his eyes worried. "Kaito … what are the chances that this person knows who you are? I mean, why pick that day?"

"Other than the midsummer solstice being a day of high magic and Kid being a magician, you mean?" Kaito ticked each of the possible reasons off on his fingers. "Kaitou Kid _always_ shows up when someone impersonates him. What better way to lure me out of wherever I'm hiding if they're tired of chasing my double across other continents? They even gave me enough time to get home. But I'll tell you, Detective, only a few people know who I am," Kaito told him flatly. "And most of them are in this house. No one else has any proof."

"Koizumi …" Shinichi started, not noticing the sharp curiosity Hattori was watching the conversation with.

"Is a freaky crackpot and I have no idea how she knows," Kaito finished for him. "Hakuba Saguru thinks he knows too, but he's never landed any evidence and won't make a move without it. I'm sure he suspects something's up – paranoid Holmes nut that he is – but I don't really see Hakuba sending a fake heist note. That kind of deviousness would probably fry a few synapses." Kaito stretched a few kinks out of his shoulders and found a chair to drop into, propping his chin up on his hand. "I think we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way: go to the heist and interfere until we catch this joker first. One way or the other, he or she doesn't stand a chance."

"She?" Heiji repeated, looking puzzled.

"She," Kaito confirmed, garnering strange looks from his companions. He smiled wryly and shook his head. "Don't ask. Trust me. That was one of the weirder nights of my life."

"Okay …" Heiji shrugged. "And Pandora's hidden, right?"

Kaito nodded, attention still on the heist note. "And staying right where it is, so don't ask. If they catch up with us, it's safer if you two don't know. Me they'll either kill outright, or take me alive. If I'm alive, I'm the best at not staying caught_._"

A flash of irritation crossed Heiji's face, and they heard the distant chime of the clock in the front entryway chime the hour. He looked at his watch and cursed under his breath. "Looks like I'd better go shove Kazuha out the door or we're going to miss the train home. Want to walk back with me, Kudou?"

"Sure Hattori," Shinichi said, hopping off the chair he'd claimed and following the other detective out the door while Kaito fell into step behind them.

The three of them clattered down the stairs like a trio of wildebeests, a marked contrast to the silence of the ascent, and bent to retrieve the shoes waiting beside the door. The scrape of a key in the lock came a moment before front door clicked and swung open. Kaito's mother stepped in, stopping as she found the three boys and closing the door behind her with one hand while the other slide her house key into a pocket of her coat.

She looked odd, different from how she had ever dressed at home. Her normally messy hair was tamed and tied back out of the way with only a few strands escaping, and she half-drowned in a white laboratory coat she had obviously borrowed from Professor Agasa.

"You're back early," she commented mildly. "I suppose the case was a simple one."

"The butler did it," Kaito shrugged, shoving his foot into a shoe. "Mom, we're going with Hattori to see him and Kazuha-san off at the train station."

Kaito's mother nodded and slipped her own shoes off, placing them to one side. "You're the Osakan detective, aren't you?" she asked, bowing slightly. "I'm pleased to meet you, Hattori-kun."

Hattori was staring at the older woman, a look of shock passing across his tanned face before he fumbled into a clumsy bow. "Um … glad to meet you too … Kuroba-san."

"Oi, Hattori?" Shinichi asked. "You okay?"

Hattori cleared his throat uncomfortably and managed a nod. "Yeah. Sorry, Kudou, just breathed wrong." He smiled disarmingly at Chikage as he said, "Kazuha'll be sorry she missed meeting you, Kuroba-san. He," a thumb jerked towards Kaito, "forgot to mention you'd gotten back in Japan."

"I did?" Kaito questioned, matching Shinichi's frown. "I could have sworn …"

"It's been an eventful few days," his mother commented dryly. "That's probably not the only thing he forgot to mention. Are you boys going to be long? Professor Agasa is letting me use some of his equipment and I'd like blood samples from both of you."

"What? Why?!" Kaito yelped, jumping back several feet and watching warily for the appearance of any sharp objects. "What could you possibly want with _my_ blood? Shinichi's the contaminated one!" Kaito flailed in Shinichi's direction and earned a glare and crossed arms for it.

"Contaminated?" Shinichi looked offended. Kaito ignored him and kept his diminutive cousin between himself and his mother. She was smiling in a way that telegraphed just how much she was silently laughing at his antics.

"Kaito, you are just as 'contaminated' as Shinichi is; just in a different way."

"You've taken the elixir, haven't you, Kuroba-san?" Heiji said, eyes brightening with the conclusion.

Kaito's mother favored him with a smile and a small chuckle. "I was once one of the Organization's scientists, Hattori-kun. When I escaped, I knew they'd look for me as Absinthe, but they were looking for an adult chemist, not a teenage art student."

Heiji nodded, understanding and with a glint of respectful approval in his dark eyes. "So you must've had access to the stuff before you left. One of the scientist working on the project, I'd bet."

"Yes, I was," she agreed. "I suspect the poison given to Shinichi either incorporated the elixir, or was an attempt to replicate it. The reason the Syndicate wanted Pandora was because every batch we synthesized killed the test subjects instead of prolonging their lives. Shinichi's body chemistry, or possibly the batch his dose came from, may have somehow reverted back to the natural strain. If that's what happened, then we may be able to permanently reverse the effects."

"Professor Agasa has been working on it since this happened," Shinichi told her, a bit mulishly. He caught Kaito's suddenly raised eyebrow and interpreted the question it was asking. He wanted to know if they should introduce his mother to Ai, and let all the mad scientists attack the problem together. He replied with a barley perceptible shake of his head. They'd shocked Ai enough letting Kaito know about her. Any more surprises like that and she might bolt, taking his best shot at a cure with her.

"Professor Agasa is an imaginative inventor," his aunt told him, though not unkindly, "and I respect him as a scientist, but he's not a chemist, and your particular problem isn't mechanical. I wanted to see how Kaito's cells have metabolized the elixir and compare it to yours, Shinichi. He's a closer genetic match to you than I am, but still has a form of the elixir in his cells since it concentrates in blood cells and Kaito subsisted on my blood for nine months before he was born."

"So _maybe_ my DNA can tell his DNA how to grow?" Kaito asked. His mother quirked a smile and nodded. Kaito sighed in surrender. "Well, bring on the needle then."

Heiji coughed and shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his heels, "Y'know, getting Kudou back to normal is way more important than seeing Kazuha and I off at the station. We said our goodbyes last night anyway, right? I'd say get the tests started. I'll let Kazuha know something came up, and she'll just assume you tripped over another body or got distracted by that Kid heist note."

"You sure, Hattori?" Shinichi asked, looking up at his Osakan friend. "It won't take that long …"

Heiji's grin was quick and knowing. "Yeah, but then you'd get distracted by Mouri-san, or the inspector would call, or a body would fall out of the sky and I'd miss my train anyway. Stay here, and get moving on this. We don't have infinite time before someone hears a rumor that you're back, Kudou. Someone in the Organization's going to put it together sooner or later."

"And we have the fake Kaitou Kid heist to crash," Kaito reminded them, a dangerous glitter sparking in his blue eyes. "Hey, Hattori, are you going to come back up for that?"

Heiji seemed to consider it for a moment before he shrugged. "Might happen."

"Can you not?" Kaito said. "Trap or not, I'm going to be there, and I can't go as Kudou Shinichi."

"So you want to impersonate Hattori?" Shinichi looked like he was trying not to snicker at Hattori's expense. "Why not just impersonate Kogoro? You've done it before, and I'm always tagging along with him."

"Too much of a chance he'll actually be there," Kaito answered. "And I can't go as Hakuba, because he'll probably be there."

"You obviously aren't going as yourself," his mother added. "Hattori-kun, if you wouldn't mind sitting this adventure out, you are the best mask for Kaito to hide behind."

"I don't mind that much," Hattori answered truthfully, walking to the front door and pulling it open. "Go ahead, Kuroba, but don't get caught. The Organization's probably not going anywhere if you two silver bullets get taken out." Heiji's parting grin was quick and he tipped his hat to them. "Now I've gotta go, or I'll miss that train and you'll have to solve _my_ murder."

He slipped through the door, shutting it behind him, closing off the identical snorts of amusement from the detective and the thief.

.oOo.

Hattori Heiji strolled lazily down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets as wandered, a lone teenager in the throng of a busy street. A tight knot of people passed, jostling him, and propelling the lanky teen into the mouth of a narrow side street. Blank walls unbroken by doors or windows lined the narrow lane. Laundry strung on lines crisscrossed the air above his head, taking advantage of the summer heat and fresh air. Heiji looked at the wall of people crossing in front of the quiet lane and shrugged before turning and walking down it, away from the concourse of humanity.

He stopped next to a collection of trash cans, leaned against the wall, and reached up to sweep his omnipresent hat off his head. He scratched at the wild hair before getting a good grip on it. A hard yank pulled the hair free as well as ripping off and taking most of the mask "Hattori" wore with it. Blonde hair fell free of the confinement, tearing off part of the dark-toned mask to reveal paler skin beneath. She reached up and pulled the patches off calmly, rubbing the adhesive away and dropping the rumpled shreds in a handy trash can.

She hadn't succeeded at her goal of retrieving Pandora from its current meddlesome keeper, but she almost didn't care. It would have been a perfect opportunity to show up Gin, but now …

When she had confronted "Kuroba Toichi" and let him know he hadn't managed to escape _her_, she'd thought herself very clever. Yukiko's life and innocence had made a perfect bit of blackmail to hold over her teacher until his continued meddling killed him.

She could laugh at herself now and admire the deception for what it had been: a distraction. Kuroba Toichi … Kaitou Kid and his extremely public search for the missing Pandora … it had been a distraction from the real prize being hidden: his brother's research, Absinthe, and _their_ son. The idiotic idealist had even sacrificed himself to keep the attention of his audience.

Vermouth tossed the baseball cap into the trash and ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it. Kudou Yuusaku was likely the missing brother, she thought, the one that had vanished into data ghosts that took years to track down. He had obviously been very busy during those years.

She also didn't think the thief calling Kudou his "little cousin" was any sort of accident. The child hadn't denied it for one thing, or acted like it was just an attempt to get under his skin. Besides that, now that she had seen the two boys side by side without the pretence or glasses of Edogawa Conan, the resemblance was striking. Even without Absinthe's confirmation, she could tell the two were cousins, and that was a secret she was sure she could use against them.

First, however, she had to recalculate a few plans she'd formed around her first silver bullet. She wasn't playing the same game Gin was, and that was the real reason she was the Boss's favorite. It entertained him to watch her glide through the other operatives like a thresher shark through chum – stirring them up and keeping them on edge. The eddying power plays kept any one of them from gaining too much influence on the others.

He was the single true power of the group, and it trickled cohesion down to the rest of them. Without him, the entire organization would splinter into a cesspool of turf wars and bickering. And that was why Vermouth had been gathering her silver bullets: the ones who could potentially remove her rivals and leave her hands clean enough to assume control before the internal war tore everything apart.

She laughed softly as she continued through the alleyway and emerged into another sea of foot traffic on the far side and continued on towards her actual assignment. This new situation was poetic. "Well played, gentlemen. Well played indeed."

* * *

**Kat's Notes:**

First off, another apology. One of my betas got sick, and that slows releasing a chapter. And then my email accounts didn't want to accept the edited chapter from her for some odd reason. Yeah, I don't know either. I think there are some wonky servers between here and Europe that personally hate us.

This is for everyone who's been asking what the Organization was up to. They lurk!

In case anyone's curious, Kaito was quoting Friedrich Nietzsche up there, and the full quote is: "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." May it also be noted that I don't think Kaito is a monster. Gin and Vermouth, however …


	9. Nocturne

**Disclaimer: **Nothing to report as this is a tame chapter. Well, there's the soft science nightmare that is the apotoxin, but that's less a warning and more glaringly obvious that I'm more versed in magic and mythology than chemistry. Oh and there's a cameo! Though I'll be shocked if anyone actually recognizes him.

* * *

.:** Chapter 9 – Nocturne **:.

"_The truth is rarely pure, and never simple."_

~ Oscar Wilde ~

.oOo.

Kuroba Chikage leaned back as the machine in front of her whirred to life. Over two weeks of work and she had to admit to herself it wasn't going well. Oh, she had researched the elixir; it was how she had gained access to the small store the Syndicate kept. And she was sure the poison that had been fed to her nephew was derived from attempts to synthesize it. What she didn't know was how it had been modified into the poison, and knowing that would help reverse the effects.

So far, all of her samples had ended in terminal necrosis, the expected reaction of further de-aging, or no reaction at all. What was truly baffling was that, even without the suspension of the elixir in liquid, it would take far more than the small pill that Shinichi had describe to decrease his age as much as it had. Something else was going on at the cellular level, and it was either his own genetics causing it, or a modification made to the original substance.

A soft scuff of a house slipper against the laboratory's tile floor pulled her from her frustrated musings. The professor's little houseguest was back. It wasn't a surprise, as the girl was a frequent visitor to the lab; she was highly intelligent and endlessly fascinated by the equipment. Professor Agasa had explained at one point that the girl's parents had been scientists and she had been left with him after their deaths.

The girl hovered many times, watching as Chikage worked, until she had beckoned the girl over and explained the experiments she was running. In a way she decided that little Haibara Ai reminded her of Kaito to some degree: well into the genius range and not to be left around potentially explosive compounds.

"Good afternoon, Ai." Ai stilled at her name, her small fist tightening around something she held in her palm. She huffed out a small breath and came up to Chikage, where she laid a red and white capsule on the table between them. Chikage picked the capsule up and held it up, examining it briefly before she looked down at the girl in curiosity.

"APTX 4869," Ai said. "That's one of the last of them, Kuroba-san. At least it's one of the last I have access to." Chikage put the capsule down slowly, dragging out a clean sample dish to place it in, and folded her hands in her lap. "My name is Miyano Shiho, but if we had known each other in the Organization, Absinthe, you would have called me Sherry."

The little girl's eyes looked suddenly far too old in a far too familiar fashion. It was the same sense of mismatched age she felt every time she looked at her nephew when he wasn't in public. "I see I wasn't the only one to vanish from my former life using this particular ploy. I am also going to assume Shinichi knows."

"He does," the girl nodded. She hesitated, looking torn for a moment before she took a breath and pointed at the capsule resting in the sample dish. "That is my creation. Kudou and I are in the same predicament."

"And you've been watching me work with possible solutions to it for weeks without saying anything," Chikage said, not bothering to keep the trace of amused laughter out of her voice. It was a deceptive laugh, designed to let her appear poised and unsurprised. She was surprised – shocked even – but she'd been an unofficial student of her husband, and Kaito wasn't the only one capable of using a Poker Face. Of course, she was curious too. "Has any of it been useful?"

Now Haibara allowed a small smile to show. "Yes. Though I wonder at some of your notes' conclusions, you're an impressive scientist, Absinthe."

"And you've created an impressive mess, Sherry," Chikage told her. "But since you've come forward with that, I assume you want to do more than lurk at the edges of my guesswork."

"It's not entirely guesswork," Ai told her. "You are simply more familiar with the natural state of the compound. It's …" she paused for a moment, clearly considering what to say before she took a breath and changed tactics. "I was working on an experimental formula to create immortality. I think I indirectly inherited your research through my father, who was assigned to the project before he died."

"Because the elixir grants a form of immortality," Chikage nodded, a true smile stealing over her face. "They probably had him continuing my research but didn't tell you what, exactly, you were working on."

"Recreating the Philosopher's Stone? " Ai said dryly. "If I had known, I would never have willingly agreed to the project at all. I'm a scientist, not an alchemist and I've never had the patience for magic."

"If you were using my research, then you didn't know what you were working with _and_ you didn't have all of it." Chikage told her.

Ai blinked in puzzlement and Chikage answered by picking up a pencil from the table and dragging a notebook already half-filled with notes and equations toward her. Ai leaned closer and studied the chemical formulae and accompanying commentary for a moment before identifying them. "Your research notes. I've been following your progress by reading them in the evenings."

Chikage nodded and rummaged around in a drawer to her right for a red pen. Once she found one, she began adding things into them before turning the notebook so Ai could see it. "I don't leave completed notes on my work. Even if you'd been given every note and scribble I left on random bits of paper and tabletops, you wouldn't have been able to replicate my research. I habitually left out key aspects of it so that I was the only one that could interpret it. If you were using any part of my work, I'm not surprised you created a poison." The additions she'd made altered the information on the highlighted lines subtly, though without them the notes still looked viable.

"This … explains a great deal, Kuroba-san," Ai said, tracing her finger beneath the lines. A light cough pulled her attention back to the other scientist.

"Please, call me Chikage, Ai," she corrected. "And now that we're being honest with one another, I have a few things to show you. I'd like your opinion. I think you can tell me where I'm going wrong in my assumptions about _your_ creation."

Haibara's stance remained tense, but she straightened and nodded briskly. "I believe I can, Chikage-san."

.oOo.

The scent of rain-washed concrete and laundry soap hung heavy in the air. Shinichi shouldered Ran's door open, balancing the smallest laundry basket in his arms and ignoring most of the contents. It was his own fault, of course. Rain beat against the windows of the detective agency, confining him indoors with a stack of books he had already read, and he had been bored out of his skull. His other option was going home and being confined indoors with Kaito and his parents, and that fate made him shudder. Even if he managed to avoid his parents, he was sure that being trapped indoors with Ran on laundry day was better than being trapped indoors with Kaito.

Shinichi wouldn't lay money down that his cousin had no time or energy to come up with some torment to spring on him even while embroiled in whatever preparations he was working on for the heist that night. He'd asked Ran if there was anything he could help her with, and she had looked so touched by the offer he couldn't very well back out. So, he had been pressed into service ferrying baskets of clean clothes to various rooms while she finished up other chores.

He set the basket down in front of Ran's closet. The door still stood partly open, either from her earlier collecting of laundry, or from the freshly pressed dresses that hung there now. Shinichi reached out to close the door, and stopped with a confused blink. He released the door and reached into Ran's closet, tugging one of the dresses out from between its fellows, and felt his eyes narrowing in suspicion. The dress was familiar, and was one of Ran's nicer ones, but had no place being right behind the dress she'd worn last weekend. The last time he'd seen Ran wear this dress had been the night Kaitou Kid went after the Black Star, and it hadn't been Ran wearing it.

Ran had kept the dress, mostly because Sonoko had pitched a fit at the mere mention of throwing away something Kid had used to impersonate her. For some reason, the fact that _this_ dress wasn't ever worn by Kid (and since _that_ dress had vanished mysteriously, Kaito probably had his very own copy lurking in a closet somewhere, which was disturbing on several levels now) was completely immaterial to Sonoko. Ran had settled for keeping the dress and banishing it to the back of her closet.

"I'll say Holmes … you'll say Lupin," Shinichi muttered.

Shinichi gave the dress a rough yank, trying to pull it off the hanger, and the shoulders slid off, dropping the dress on Shinichi's head. He struggled out from under the pile of fabric and dragged it into the room, then dashed to the door and poked his head out into the hall, trying to figure out where Ran was. He strained his ears and caught a snatch of humming coming from the direction of the kitchen. Perfect, he thought. She had started dinner, trusting him to finish ferrying the laundry baskets to the bedrooms. He had a few minutes to solve this small mystery before she called or came looking for him.

Shinichi laid the dress out across Ran's bed and started examining it for the next bit of the puzzle. The obvious reason for this dress to be out in more-or-less plain sight was that Kaito was up to something and had left the dress as a clue. Ran wouldn't have any reason to move it, and Kaito was too meticulous and professional to just put something back in the wrong place.

There wasn't anything out of the ordinary on the surface of the dress, so Shinichi moved on to running his fingers along the seams. He'd gotten the chance to check out Kid's jacket a few days ago, when Kaito had returned home long enough to retrieve it before the heist. It was, after all, tradition for Kaitou Kid to put in an appearance when his name was being used without his permission. The jacket had myriad pockets tucked away in every seam. Kaito's explanation for that had been that seams were the easiest place to put pockets without ruining the cut of the suit, and image was important, but he needed a lot of pockets for his gear.

A triumphant grin snuck over Shinichi's face as his finger vanished into the fabric of the skirt, and he pulled the hidden pocket open. A flash from the depths of the pocket caught his attention and he reached inside. Clean edges met his fingers and when he pulled his hand free, Pandora sat in his palm, the swirls of crimson overtaking the clear depths as he watched.

The doorbell rang suddenly, startling him out of admiration of his discovery and Shinichi looked towards the sound.

"Conan, can you get the door, please?" Ran called from the kitchen, and Shinichi scrambled to fold the dress up haphazardly before dropping it in with the other clothes. Ran would find that weird, but hopefully she'd just assume he pulled the dress down by accident and could read the hanger to hang it back up. That was true enough, as he couldn't reach the hanger without a stool or a chair.

"Yes, Ran-neechan!" he called back, padding down the hallway and across the living room to the front door, sliding Pandora into a pocket of his jeans. Shinichi reached up, stretching to catch the doorknob, and yanked hard to swing it open.

"Yo, Kudou," a voice greeted as Shinichi released the knob, and poked his head around the door. A wiry figure leaned right outside, baseball cap pulled low over his face, shadowing his eyes.

"Hattori!" Shinichi yelped, and scrambled out of the way as the taller teenager pushed himself away from the wall and stepped inside.

Once clear, Hattori pushed the door closed behind him and his laid-back grin twisted into something more wicked and mischievous. "Close enough, Detective."

Kuroba. Shinichi folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Aren't you a little early? The sun's not even down yet."

"Yeah, but it's a fairly long trip out there and ..."

"And you were driving everyone crazy back at the house, weren't you?" Shinichi kept his voice down, and smothered the urge to snort at the image of Kaito being tossed out and told to go play outside.

Kaito chuckled quietly. "Maybe. A bit. I think your dad was getting tired of random doves nesting in his hair and stealing his glasses. And mom threatened me with fi … a mop."

Kaito stumbled over the last word, and Shinichi cast him an odd look. "A mop? Isn't that Aoko's threat?"

"Mom knows all about it," Kaito said ruefully, rubbing the back of his neck and pushing his cap and hair up.

"Knows about what?" Ran's voice broke in right before she stepped into the room from the direction of the kitchen. "Hello, Hattori-kun!"

"Hey, Nee-chan," Kaito answered easily in an Osakan drawl. "I thought I'd swing by a bit early and get Conan-kun for Kid's heist. Kudou got tied up in something and said he'd have to meet us there."

Ran looked worried at that and bit her lip. "Is he still in Tokyo?"

"Eh?" Kaito blinked then glanced sidewise at Shinichi and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's still close by. He just got called in on a couple of things, and said he'd catch up." Ran chewed her lip a bit more, and didn't look at either of them, but nodded. Shinichi fidgeted uncomfortably and Kaito looked between them and shook his head. "Tell ya what, Ran, if he acts like he's going to dash on ya again, I'll drag him back. If he doesn't show up tonight, I'll go after him. Either way, he's coming back to you. Deal?"

Ran looked up at him, startled and blushing faintly in embarrassment. She started stammering out a denial, stopped and nodded with a relieved smile. "Thank you, Hattori-kun. And it's not that I don't trust Shinichi …"

"You just still don't quite believe he's really here," Kaito finished for her, sounding dryly amused. "We'll work on that."

.oOo.

The estate of Kakunoshin Niitsu rested against the side of a wooded hill. The trees were artfully placed to cloak the true size of the building, which had grown ever more massive over the decades of the last century in order to house the artwork and workspace of its string of reclusive artists. The sun was setting now, hovering over the western horizon as it died in a silent explosion of pinks and gold. It would be gone within an hour, bringing twilight and the rising of the moon.

Hakuba Saguru could hear the yelling as the inspector ordered his task force into position as soon as he stepped out of the car. The darkness flashed with the lights of squad cars and rumbled with the rotary blades of police helicopters, which added their own glaring spotlights to the estate's muted and elegant lighting. Hakuba's shoes crunched on the gravel as he walked what was left of the drive to the house proper, where he was met by a uniformed officer who nodded in recognition and waved him through.

Kakunoshin's decorations ran towards pottery and archaic weapons lining the walls and lurking in strategic corners. It forced the intruding officers to step carefully and not back into any rooms or hallways that looked clear for fear of shattering something worth more than their annual salary.

Nakamori was inside, still shouting orders to his officers, and pestering Kakunoshin Niitsu, the owner of the night's target jewel, with a gamut of questions. Kakunoshin answered curtly, his deep voice booming and his arms folded, fingers tapping against one thick forearm in impatience. From the man's arrogant behavior at the first Kid heist, Hakuba presumed it would only be a short matter of time before Kakunoshin swept from the room and ignored the police until the actual time set for the thief's arrival.

Or rather the imposter's arrival, Hakuba thought darkly. Fake heist notes made him twitchy and he usually just didn't bother to come. He let the police do their job, faced with an unimaginative criminal and an identity-protective phantom thief. However, Kid himself had been absent from Japan for months and Hakuba wondered if the elusive thief would put in an appearance. Either way, Hakuba had every intention of delivering tonight's Kaitou Kid to the police.

.oOo.

A brief touch on his shoulder pulled Shinichi's attention to his cousin. Kaito stood as the bus they were riding lurched to a stop and Shinichi slid off the seat, looking suspiciously puzzled as he followed the other boy down the aisle. They were still two stops away from the stop closest to the heist and the sun was starting to set.

"Change of plans," Kaito said as the bus pulled away, leaving them stranded on a deserted sidewalk. The rain had cleared up momentarily, leaving them enveloped in the sharp scent of wet stone and plants and cooling air. "We're not doing things your way tonight."

"What does that mean?!" Shinichi demanded, scrambling to keep up as Kaito started off without him. "Hey!"

Kaito turned back and a familiar grin flashed from under the shadows of Hattori's baseball cap. Then he sobered and dropped down so he was eyelevel with his diminutive cousin. "They're up there waiting for us… well, for me. They shouldn't know about you yet. But, even Snake isn't stupid enough to _not_ check out a second heist where I found Pandora. I can become Hattori any time, but I'm not in the mood to just be a critic and wait for things to happen. If this is some idiot that figured using Kid's name would help him get away with something, _we_ need to stop him before _they_ shoot him."

"So walking the last few kilometers will keep us under their radar?" Shinichi asked dubiously as Kaito straightened, forcing the smaller boy to look up.

"_Not being seen_ will keep us under their radar," Kaito corrected and started walking along the side of the road and stuffing his hands in his pockets in a show of nonchalance. "You never see me until I want you to."

Shinichi started to protest, but lapsed into a grumpy silence and folded his arms. "So we're going to trek through the underbrush instead of walking up the drive like normal people?"

"Yep!" Kaito answered brightly with only a hint of a wicked grin. "Try to keep up." He took another step and vanished, only a tell-tale rustle from the leaves and a crack from a handful of broken twigs told Shinichi where Kaito had stepped off the road.

This was familiar, Shinichi reflected with a glower. Still, he found himself smiling and dove into the foliage after the thief, spotting the rare partial footprint or snapped twig to keep him on the trail until he reached the estate's tall fence. That's when he caught sight of Kaito again, still dressed as Hattori, but now with the addition of Kid's gloves covering his hands. He held out one of them, silently offering Shinichi help over the wall that towered over them both.

Shinichi swung the backpack he was wearing around in front of him and dug through the front pocket before pulling out another set of gloves and slipping them on. The iron bars of the ornamental fence were just wide enough for a child to squeeze through. Shinichi wedged his backpack between two of them and gave it a push, forcing it through to the other side before following it with a sideways wiggle. He caught a quiet huff of laughter from Kaito before the other boy latched onto the top of the fence and swung himself up and over it, landing in a crouch on the other side before smoothly standing and brushing off a bit of imaginary dust.

"Show off," Shinichi snorted at him and earned a sketched bow in reply.

Now that they were inside, the underlying tension between them ratcheted up another few notches. Inside the estate were higher security and more unknowns. Kaito scanned their surroundings quickly before picking a direction and setting off in it. Shinichi followed silently as the forest gave way to more-cultured wildness of a large formal garden. Now they had to step carefully, keeping to the edges of the gravel and stone paths, where the moss was thickest and the crunchy gravel thinnest. It also let them duck into cover as periodic policemen roamed by, keeping watch for elusive thieves.

"You do this for every heist?" Shinichi questioned, keeping his voice a notch above a whisper as they crouched on top of an outbuilding roof. They had found it had a good view of the gallery Kakunoshin originally kept the jeweled swords in.

"Watch everyone running around trying to figure out what shadow I'm planning to leap out of? Or hide on top of things? I do both. People never think to look up," Kaito answered as he fished a pair of binoculars out Shinichi's backpack and trained them on the milling police below. The tall glass windows and skylights gave Kakunoshin's gallery plenty of natural light during the day, and plenty of watch points for them now. "Except for you. You have an uncanny habit of looking _up_ and spotting me."

"That's because you're always trying to make people look everywhere you're not. It's all just smoke and mirrors."

"Oh you're just very, very used to looking up to see _anything, _pipsqueak."

"Kuroba …" Shinichi growled, trailing off as Kaito held up a hand to signal him into silence and pointed below them with the hand holding the binoculars.

"Looks like Hakuba came to join the fun," Kaito whispered.

"Oh great," Shinichi snorted, grabbing the binoculars from Kaito's hand and training them on the gathering below them. "I'm glad Heiji's not actually here."

"Really?" Kaito pulled his legs underneath himself and settled into an easy crouch. "I think watching those two stuck on a case together would be fun."

"They spend the entire time trying to one up the other," Shinichi muttered. "The _entire_ time. And they both think they're right."

That brought a grin to Kaito's lips and he reached over to lightly cuff his cousin. "And that doesn't sound at all familiar, does it, Detective?"

Shinichi blinked and chuckled softly, turning his attention from the thief back to the police and detectives in the gallery below them. "How do you plan to spot this imposter?" he finally asked. "We're not exactly in the thick of things up here."

"Patience, Detective," Kaitou Kid admonished, and Shinichi very much saw Kid's eyes looking through the mask of Heiji's face right then, "we're just on stake out and we'll just stay here until something interesting happens." He held out his hand, curling his fingers into his palm expectantly. "And unless you can read lips, hand those binoculars back. I want to know what they're chattering about in there."

Shinichi passed them back to his cousin without complaint, and turned his attention back to what he could see below them. "We should have brought two sets."

.oOo.

"What exactly do you want, Kakunoshin-san?" Nakamori asked in a tone that said he would gladly order the man out of the room if he thought he could get away with it, or that Kakunoshin would listen.

"For this entire circus to get out of my house."

Nakamori bit down hard on his unlit pipe and sketched a quick bow in the man's direction. "We'll leave as soon as we're sure you and your art are safe from the clutches of this thief. But until then, we need to be here."

"And underfoot," Kakunoshin grunted before sweeping away from the inspector. Hakuba kept himself conspicuously out of Nakamori's vision as the inspector glared daggers after the arrogant artist and checked his watch. The thief was nearly late. In fact, he would be late in another two minutes, and the tension of the officers was ratcheting up with each second of expectant stillness.

Kid heists were tense, of course. Everyone involved, with the possible exception of the showboating thief, spent the entire time strung high and jumping at shadows. Usually it was the tension that comes from knowing you're about to get embarrassed, again. Like walking into school and knowing that the moment the girl you like walks around the corner, that football player's going to shove you in your locker and she'll have to let you out. Kid had an unnerving tendency to unravel the most carefully thought-out defenses and leave the defenders scrambling like a flurry of ants in a rainstorm.

But tonight's tension was of a whole different sort. Now, Hakuba could see the other members of the Task Force were _worried_. There were flak vests bulking up uniforms and a few of them are actually carrying firearms. Nakamori himself was attempting to bite through his pipe stem, and his dark eyes never strayed from the mantle clock for more than a handful of seconds between his shouted last-minute preparations.

The officers were staying in small clumps, and one flashed her light through the windows, letting the light arc through the glass and sweep the shadows beyond the house lights. Nothing stirred. No telling flutter of white or flash of glass set in ivory, and the officer turned away.

.oOo.

The door cracked open, revealing a petite form that stepped into the light and looked around in puzzlement. "Why is it so dark in here?" Aoko asked, shutting the door and being careful not to let the wrapped box in her hand be caught and crushed.

The officers looked at one another, not sure whether to relax at the relatively familiar face, or worry further. It wouldn't be the first time Kaitou Kid had impersonated the inspector's daughter.

Hakuba stepped forward cautiously, opening his mouth to speak until the inspector cut him off.

"Aoko, what are you doing here?" he demanded, the surliness from earlier softened slightly for his daughter.

She hefted the wrapped box in explanation. "You forgot your dinner. And I know better than to ask any 'helpful passing officer' to drop it off for you. It would end up being Kaitou Kid, and he'd put a miniature tank of goldfish or something that exploded and coated the room in pink glitter when you opened it."

There were a few subdued snickers from the Task Force in earshot, but those were quickly quelled by twin glares from Nakamori and his daughter.

"Well, you're here, but this wacko's due to show up any minute," Nakamori grunted. "I'll have someone take you home. Hakuba can go with you if you want."

Hakuba opened his mouth to protest being asked to leave when the house clocks struck the hour … and half of the lights flickered out, plunging the room into semi-darkness and putting every officer present on twitchy high alert. Kakunoshin grumbled and folded his arms expectantly.

Aoko squeaked a bit at the sudden loss of illumination, shrinking back towards Hakuba and her father. Hakuba caught her shoulders and tightened his grip reassuringly as his eyes scanned the shadowy half-light. Everyone waited, torn between expecting the ghostly laughter of the phantom thief and one of his flashy entrances, or a scream heralding the murder that so often accompanies a false Kid heist.

After a handful of tense minutes listening to one another fidget and breathe, Nakamori started swearing under his breath. "Damn thief's screwing with us," Nakamori grumbled, biting at his pipe stem.

* * *

**Kat's Notes:**

Formatting should officially be fixed! Maybe ... assuming the kami like me. I checked in the preview thing, but here's hoping I caught it all.

Things you might not know if you haven't read the Magic Kaito manga are that Snake is the guy that killed Kaito's dad, and then thought he'd missed when Kaito started stealing things as Kid. Also, Kaito is terrified of fish, far more than he fears Aoko's mop. His mother and Aoko know this, but Shinichi doesn't yet.

Sorry for the delay in general. I ended up going on vacation and there is a distinct lack of laptops in the land of the Kat. That, and I had to do a **lot** of rewriting this time around. This entire chapter, and the next one, had to be rebuilt from the ground up when I realized my first draft with Kaito going to the heist as Shinichi wasn't going to work - unless he wanted to get killed off early - and wouldn't you know it, Shinichi and Heiji are different people, and their dynamic next to Hakuba is completely different. Sad for me, honestly, Hakuba's lots of fun around Shinichi. Oh well. Maybe I can turn those pages into a one-shot or something.

So thank you for slogging through this far! I'm going to stop apologizing now, and go write chapter 10... or Blood Ties... or about chirpy teenage necromancers or something. Ta!


	10. All's Fair

Bar none, this is the longest chapter in this entire story. And I had to write it twice, because I didn't like the way it was set up before. And then rewrite a few of the sections again because I didn't like _those_. This thing was a logistical nightmare, but I'm mostly happy with it now!

**Disclaimer:** Same old, same old. I also stole a line from Doctor Who. It made one of my betas laugh, so it was worth it.

* * *

**Chapter 10 – All's Fair**

_"Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he is most likely to be creamed?" _

~ _Solomon Short _~

.oOo.

"Oh, now that's interesting," Kaito muttered, pulling Shinichi's attention to him. Kaito still had the binoculars trained on the gallery below them. Shinichi followed the line of sight to see what Kaito was looking at. The people milling below them were police officers, with a few of Kakunoshin's sparse staff drifting through and exchanging distrustful glares with the officers. Nothing unusual, other than the rampant fidgeting paranoia of knowing the person next to you, or that voice reporting an all clear or that whisper of noise you thought you heard behind you could be the thief you were here to catch.

"What?"

"Just watch." Kaito tensed beside him and the lights in the gallery blinked out.

Frenzy erupted beneath them, betrayed by shouts and orders being snapped in the darkness. Flashlights flared, bobbing as the officers milled around like irritated ants; ones that know the shoe is about to drop on them.

Shinichi looked sideways at his companion, who was eerily calm, to the slightly frantic taste of movement below them. "You knew?"

"I know how _I_ do that," Kaito answered. "And the lights flared. Looks like our game is afoot, Detective."

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't that be my line?"

The flash of a knowing grin appeared beneath the shadows of Hattori Heiji's hat. "I'm not Watson. I get to steal lines." The binoculars Kaito had been holding abruptly arched through the air and into Shinichi's hands. Shinichi let out a muffled squawk as he fumbled with them before getting a decent grip. Kaito rolled to his feet and was slinking towards the edge of the roof an instant later.

"Where are you going?" Shinichi asked.

"Hunting for amateurs," Kid's whisper carried back to him through the dark, excited but with a thread of mischief and laughter dancing through it. "Come on, Kudo, can't just pass up an opportunity when it's handed to us."

Kid vanished over the edge of the roof with a bound, leaving Shinichi frowning after him, puzzling it out for an instant before the answer broke upon him. Kaito was trying to drag the police across evidence of the Syndicate, and the Syndicate was here. Aside from keeping the impersonating fool breathing, they had a chance at cracking the criminals' armor.

Shinichi chanced one more look through the binoculars and sighed. Either Kaito was staying focused, or his sudden change of plans had something to do with the disappearance of Nakamori's daughter from the gallery. Shinichi couldn't see her where she had stood near her father and Hakuba. Kaito had vanished, jumping soundlessly from the roof and … leaving Shinichi to find his own way down. Grumbling under his breath, the boy stuffed the binoculars back into his bag and swung it up onto his shoulders.

.oOo.

This house was a maze, Aoko thought as she felt her way through the darkened corridors, and the master of the house wasn't very good at giving directions. Through the side door, down the hall with the window at the end, and the second door from the end seemed like workable directions when they had been told to her, but the moment she stepped out of the first door she had known she was in trouble.

There were three halls, and _two_ of them had windows at the end. The few rooms she'd checked, on the off chance she had missed the bathroom in her doubling back, and all of them had more than one way in and out of them. Kaitou Kid probably loved this place, she though dourly, because it was literally impossible to be cornered. She'd been gone long enough she was fairly certain her father would be sending an officer, or Hakuba, after her to make sure she hadn't been the thing stolen.

A voice-clearing cough caught her attention, and Aoko looked over her shoulder to find a dark-skinned teenager standing behind her, his face partly-shadowed by the brim of a baseball cap. "Lost, um… Nakamori-san?" he asked, politely, an Osakan accent heavy even in that one word. She turned around so she could face him, and he stepped closer with a knowing grin quirking across his mouth. "Name's Hattori Heiji. Detective. Your dad's wondering where ya are."

Not an officer or Hakuba, then, but a stray amateur detective. She sighed, and felt a thread of suspicion at the convenient appearance. Though, logically, if Kid was going to impersonate someone, he'd typically pick a random officer or Hakuba and the name Hattori did sound vaguely familiar.

"Nakamori Aoko," she offered, her attention wandering away as she went back to figuring out where she was in relation to the elusive bathroom she'd come looking for. "And I'm not lost yet, though this place is big enough for it. I'm just looking for the bathroom."

"Ah, well it's back this way," Hattori told her, slipping his hands out of his pockets and waving for her to follow him as he turned and started walking. "I looked over a map of the place earlier. Wouldn't want the thief to be the only person that knew the layout, ne?"

Aoko hung back for a moment before deciding to follow him. She couldn't get much more lost, or at least she was sure she knew how to get from where she was now back to the gallery everyone else was waiting in. Kid had never taken an interest in her, unless it somehow irritated her dad. So this probably wasn't the thief in disguise … just another amateur detective trying to make a name for himself by tangling with the famous Kaitou Kid.

It didn't take long before the two of them were standing in front of door, and Hattori slipped his hands back into his pockets again and nodded to it. "Tell ya what, nee-chan, I'll wait here for you. Pretty girls like you shouldn't wander around in the dark with criminals on the loose."

Aoko frowned at him and planted one of her fists on her hip. "And you figure I can't find my way back without getting lost?"

"Not at all! It's … just the right thing to do, ne?" He grinned at her, tipping his baseball cap back, and giving her a better view of his face and the warm friendliness in his eyes. "'Sides, your dad looked upset enough to use me for target practice if I go in there and tell him I left you here all by yourself after the lights blinked out in the gallery."

Aoko tilted her head at that. "The lights went out?"

"A few minutes back," Hattori answered. "No real sign of Kid yet, though."

"Hmm," she answered, a bit confused a his relaxed attitude when everyone else seemed as tense as tuned piano wires. "Well, thank you for the help, but you don't have to, Hattori-san. I can find my own way back." Aoko pushed the door aside and stepped into the room, suppressing a sigh of utter relief that it was definitely the bathroom she'd been looking for, and went right, heading for the tiny alcove the toilet sat in.

She finished quickly, feeling a bit edgy at the oppressive silence of the house this far from the gallery. Even Hattori-san on the other side of the wall wasn't making any noise at all. After pausing just long enough to wash her hands and dry them on a waiting towel, Aoko pushed the door aside and stepped back into the hallway.

"Do you want to use the room while we're here, Hattori-san?" she asked as she stepped out and shut the door behind her. "Hattori-san?" When no one answered, Aoko looked up and down the hallway and found no teenage detective in sight. Of course, if the heist had started he had probably left her as "duty" called. The way the house was put together, Kid could be leading the officers a merry chase through the hallways by this point.

She looked down at the watch around her wrist to check the time and found her wrist bare. Sighing, she remembered unlatching it before washing her hands. Aoko turned, intent on going back into the bathroom to retrieve the lost item. She took a few steps before something squished beneath her foot, and she jumped back, looking down and expecting to see a cat or some horribly expensive antique crushed under her shoe.

It was a doll.

The little figure was dressed in white and Kaitou Kid's signature smile grinned up at her. It had a little silk top hat set at a jaunty angle, a cape pinned to its shoulders, and a dagger-like pin stabbed through its stomach. Aoko hopped back a few steps so she wasn't near it, and circled the macabre doll. She didn't like Kid anymore … well, far less than most of the world's population, but even to her this was excessive and becoming macabre. A light down the hall shifted and she flinched, suddenly trying to watch the shadows in the darkened house as a large part of her started whispering to get back to light and people _now_. Kid was certifiable, and sometimes spooky just for the hell of it, but he wasn't sinister, and that doll wasn't like him. It looked too little like a warning, and too much like a threat.

Aoko backed away another step, and reached back to feel for the bathroom door handle. Instead of cool metal or polished wood, her extended hand brushed against a pliable firmness and the warmth of thin material over a living body. Aoko had just enough time for a frightened squeak before slender arms draped themselves around her shoulders, accompanied by an exotic scent and the unmistakable press of curves against her back. She jerked forward, trying to break away, but the arms hauled her easily back as the world faded out.

.oOo.

"Finally," Shinichi muttered as he spotted Kaito lurking in a darkened hallway. "Unless you know something you haven't shared with the rest of the class, nothing's getting stolen down this hallway," he said as he joined the other boy.

Kaito spared him a look before turning his attention back to the door he seemed to be guarding. "It's been quiet. Anything happened yet?" he asked instead.

"Not unless you count really edgy policemen and the guy that's ready to toss them all out on their ears."

Kaito chuckled. "That would be Kakunoshin-san. He didn't like them here the last time Kid showed up either." The good humor dropped away like a discarded mask as Kaito crossed his arms and looked back in the direction of the gallery. "Still, I think our quarry's here too; we just haven't spotted them yet."

"And yet here you are flirting with Aoko-san."

"I'm not flirting," Kaito corrected, throwing Shinichi an annoyed look. "I'm keeping an eye on her because she's the only one wandering around in dark corridors without a gun. And she's been in there a long time."

Shinichi sighed. "Want me to go and check on her? One of the few upsides to being stuck this size is that girls don't freak out if I walk in on them in the restroom."

"You do that a lot with Ran?"

Shinichi colored and shook his head quickly. "N..no! Not intentionally, anyway." Shinichi swatted at his smirking companion and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Kaito to fidget outside. In the few moments Shinichi was gone, Kaito's humor at his cousin's expense drained away, leaving a twitchy certainty that things were going to go wrong tonight.

"She's _not_ in here," Shinichi reported as he opened the door and poked his head around it. "And there are two doors, so she must have gone through the other one. Or climbed out the window to escape you."

Kaito pushed past Shinichi, sending the smaller boy pinwheeling when the door he'd been leaning on was jerked out from under him. "She probably got turned around and then got lost in this stupid mausoleum of a house. I have to find her before anything else happens."

.oOo.

A scrap of white caught Shinichi's eye and he turned toward it. It looked like a child's doll had been abandoned on the floor and kicked behind one of the house's many statues. Shinichi leaned over and pulled it free, eyes widening as the doll flipped over and the flash of the long pin driven through its chest caught the light. "Oi, Hattori!" he called, keeping his voice low, but loud enough to bring Kaito up short from where he'd walked down the hall. "Someone here doesn't like Kid."

"Kid's fanclub isn't exactly on the dance card tonight, detective. What's that?" Kaito turned back, looking over his shoulder then walking back as Shinichi pointed at the mangled doll lying on the floor in front of him. "What's that?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Voodoo doll? Someone skewered it with a pin."

Kaito's eyes widened for a fraction of an instant before Kid's Poker Face slammed over his features, followed immediately by a more characteristically Hattori Heiji reaction. Kaito began swearing under his breath and snagged Shinichi by the collar, ignoring the smaller boy's offended yelp as he scooped the mauled Kid doll in his free hand and dragged both of them down the hallway. Shock kept Shinichi still for a moment before he started struggling, until he managed to nail Kaito in the thigh with a sneaker. Kaito hissed at the blow and dropped Shinichi, letting the smaller boy scramble away and out of reach.

"Don't manhandle me!" Shinichi directed an irritated and sullen look up at Kaito. "Now what is your problem? What don't I know about that doll?"

Kaito looked down at the skewered doll held trapped in his fist and loosened his fingers with a will, letting the doll lay between them on his flat palm. He shook his head in restrained fury and the anger twisted his mouth into a grimace that held a bitter cast. "I've seen it before. If this is the same doll, Detective, then Aoko's not _lost_, she's _missing_."

.oOo.

The gallery echoed as most of the officers and household staff fled, ordered by Inspector Nakamori and Kakunoshin to get the lights back on. Hakuba stepped aside in the resulting flurry of localized chaos to avoid being stepped on, or noticed and ordered out of the room. After several minutes, the melee sorted itself out, leaving only a handful of twitchy police on the perimeter, the Inspector, Kakunoshin, his draconic head of house, and Hakuba.

Hakuba scanned over the remaining people, a niggling feeling of unease creeping into him. Kid hadn't put in his appearance yet, solidifying the possibility he hadn't sent that note in the first place. For all his illusions and acrobatics, Kid played fair. He _wanted_ to be noticed, and the spooky creeping through the shadows wasn't typical.

More disquieting was the continued absence of the Inspector's daughter. Of course, if she was Kid in disguise, they would find out soon enough. If she wasn't … then there was every possibility that _someone_ wasn't as blind to her relationship with Kuroba as Kuroba pretended. It was, to Hakuba's mind, all a little too convenient, and making sure Aoko stayed in sight for the rest of the evening wouldn't be a bad idea. At all.

The lights flickered back to a fitful half-light as Hakuba mused, and Nakamori's grumbled curses rose in volume as an apologetic officer delivered the mangled remnants of several bulbs that had shattered from whatever had blown out the lights.

"Inspector, I'm going to look for Aoko-san," Hakuba volunteered, prompting Nakamori to take a brusque look around the room, his scowl to darken before he nodded and waved the young man off.

Hakuba set off, making it as far as the door before a mocking voice split the air, laughing in an undeniably familiar way. "Good evening, gentlemen! I'm glad you could join me." Hakuba twisted towards the source of the voice, to where Kaitou Kid stood, directly beneath the crossed swords that held the night's prize. In one white-gloved hand glittered a sapphire – stolen from the pommel of the sword on the wall.

Kid's grin teased them from beneath the hat-brim's shadows, and his clover-leaf charm flashed, catching stray bits of the room's light as the thief gave them a mocking bow. Nakamori took a menacing step forward, teeth grinding, and bellowed, "Kid! Where's the other jewel?"

"The ruby? Not here with me," Kid replied easily, tossing the stolen sapphire from hand to hand. "But I've decided to start a collection, Inspector, and it would be a shame if the blue didn't join the red for a while, don't you think?"

"No, I don't think, you bastard!" Nakamori foamed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hakuba pull something out of his blazer and a bullet lodged itself in the wall several inches from Kid's wide-eyed face.

"You're not Kid," the British detective stated coldly.

.oOo.

"Aoko-san's been taken," Shinichi said, mouth thinning into a grim line. "And you know by who."

Kaito's nod turned into a flinch as Nakamori's bellow shattered the quiet of the house, and probably startled the fish in the garden koi ponds. Both of them started and spun towards the sound. Kaito rubbed carefully at the dark-skinned mask covering his features. "Had to be _now_, didn't it?" he grumbled before turning to Shinichi. "I don't _know_, okay? But there's probably another doll out there that looks just like her. I don't want her dragged any further into this, but we need to find her because her dad's _not_ going to know where to look."

Shinichi held out his hand, a wordless demand for the doll Kaito held clutched in his gloved hand, and Kaito handed it to him. The detective turned it over in his hands, inspecting it before opening his mouth to say something or ask a question when a gunshot cracked through the air. The two of them spared a startled, horrified look, before turning and sprinting towards the gallery – and the source of the shot. Shinichi fell behind, not able to match Kaito's longer strides, until Kaito stopped suddenly and snatched Shinichi back as soon as he ran past.

"That was _my_ cue, Detective. I'm better at dodging than you are, and one of us should _not_ run in there and make himself a target. I'll go take care of the idiot that's trying to commit flashy suicide."

Shinichi started to argue, but caught the suppressed desperation in Kaito's masked face and nodded, but started digging through his pocket with one hand. The search quickly produced a bit of gadgetry that he extended to Kaito.

"I'm not going to hold you back," Shinichi told him. "Just … here. It's a throat microphone. And it has a tracer in it so I can find you if we get separated. We have to be able to communicate if I'm going to back you up. I'll find a way to sneak in. If I get a clear shot on anyone that's shooting, I'll take it."

Kaito looked from the microphone being extended to him, then to Shinichi before he took the device and fitted the earpiece into place, pointing the rest of it towards his throat as Shinichi pulled his radio badge out and pinned it to his clothes.

Kaito grinned and a set of colored sphere appeared held between the fingers of his left hand. He picked up Shinichi's hand and dropped the three small objects into it. "They break if you throw them against something hard. The silver's a flash grenade. The two pink ones are smoke bombs. If you blind me with the flash and I fall off the ceiling or something, I'm going to put a remote control on your skateboard that the professor won't be able to _find_, much less take off."

Shinichi glared at him, but slide the spheres into his pocket, pocketing the strange little effigy of Kid as well. "Just go."

Kaito gave him a jaunty salute and turned to race on towards the gallery, leaving Shinichi to follow at a stealthier pace.

.oOo.

_Entrance_, Kaito thought, as he dashed down the abandoned halls and through the crazy house's doubled doors. _Can't just skid in there like an idiot and start yelling at whoever set this nightmare up._

The gallery was on the other side of the wall now, and Kaito could hear Nakamori's growling bellow splitting attention between whoever had fired the gun – and it sounded like it had been _Hakuba_ of all people – and the intruder. The inspector was being answered by a surreal mixture of clipped, precise cadence that could only be Hakuba Saguru, and shaky but mocking laughter that was … a decent impression of Kid's own.

Kaito ducked down a hall that ultimately lead to the kitchen, and stripped off Hattori's jacket and baseball cap before wiggling out of the jeans and yanking the t-shirt over his head. Kid's white slacks and blue shirt appeared from beneath the casual clothes, with the front of the white jacket pinned to his sides and out of sight.

The great thing about a pottery artist, he had decided on the last visit, was it gave him plenty of places to stash costumes; places the police were hard pressed to look without incurring the wrath of the draconian artisan with the too-quiet movements. Also fortunate, people rarely dusted _inside_ art pieces. Like hiding identity papers and emergency cash in the backing of framed paintings, the chance of his equipment being discovered before he had a chance to sneak back in like a proper thief and retrieve them was minimal.

Hattori's clothes vanished into one of the larger free-standing urns, pausing only long enough for Kaito to snatch the final pieces bits of costume and gear out of the pockets and attach or stow them away. The final bit, a dark shroud of a cloak, he wrapped around himself. His monocle glinted beneath the hood, but most of the blinding white that was Kid was hidden. No need to become a shiny white target until he _wanted_ to be – and some part of him acknowledged that it was insane for him to want to be a shinnying anything tonight no matter _what_ the timing, even if it was to protect someone else. Who he was protecting, he decided, was still very much up for debate. Eyes narrowed and mouth curving up into the familiarity of Kid's mocking smirk, Kaito slipped back into the shadows and started forward again to the gallery.

.oOo.

"Why, Hakuba-san," Kid said, regaining his dignity with a sweeping show of nonchalance. "What makes you say that?"

"You are an imposter," Hakuba answered, voice clipped and measured, his eyes narrowed as he regarded the posturing thief with a mix of contempt and anger, "because Kaitou Kid isn't in the country."

"Actually, yes, I am," a familiar laughing voice interrupted, accompanied with a flash of pink-tinged smoke billowing up on the opposite side of the room from the tableau of detectives and thief. As the smoke subsided, Kaitou Kid swept into an elegant bow, made mocking by knowingly superior smirk playing across his shadowed face. "Accept no substitutes. Although," he straightened and looked across the room at the first of the night's white clad thieves, "it's rare for the same person to impersonate me _twice_."

The slight widening of eyes followed by a slow, pleased smile told Kaito his guess was right. Akako had impersonated him once before, flying away from the heist on a _broom_ while he had been pinned down by Hakuba and had a handcuffed dangling from his wrist. She had also used an effigy doll to control him once before, forcing him to abandon a heist and come to her side before he had managed to break the spell with one of his own tricks.

Akako smiled at him from behind Kid's monocle and said, "I see you found my magic trick,"

Kaito's fists clenched and he found himself holding onto Poker Face by his fingernails as he started walking across the gallery floor, advancing on his doppelganger with a determined, and vaguely threatening deliberateness while ignoring the police officers around him – who were casting confused looks from the unusually-serious thief and Inspector Nakamori but not reaching out to stop him. "Give her back to me."

The sapphire in Akako's hand sparkled as she tossed it up before catching it again. "What, the jewel? I'll keep her, I think. You can have this one." She lobbed a doll with messy brown hair and a school uniform toward him carelessly. Kid's hand snapped up, snatching the new doll out of the air and he growled softly under his breath, drawing surprised looks from the police officers and a delighted one from the witch.

The attention of the police officers swiveled from one thief to the other, as though they were watching a surreal tennis match, or at least trying to figure out which of the two Kaitou Kids was the imposter.

"Congratulations," Kid said into the silence, voice carrying a warning of steel beneath it. "You've gone all out tonight, and I applaud your effort, but this isn't a good time to be impersonating me." Kid's eyes flickered to the officers that were finally starting to edge closer, and Nakamori who was striding, teeth clamped around his pipe stem. "Give her back to me."

"Sir?" one of the officers managed, looking indecisive.

"Arrest them both, and we'll sort it out behind bars," Nakamori snarled, waving the entire pack forward. Kid's face snapped around, Poker Face sliding seamlessly back over his features, a mocking half-smile with a knowing and mischievous slant to it. His gloved hand twisted and a wall of pink-tinged smoke sprang up with a hissing pop, filling the gallery with a pastel miasma that made several people start to cough.

Kaito pulled his card gun from his jacket and fired, burying a three of clubs inches from Akako's face and knocking her top hat off her head. _Break her concentration,_ he thought, eyes narrowing. Akako had ensnared him with one of those dolls once before, but he'd broken her spell when he'd broken her concentration with a weather trick. Snow swirling around them inside the house had startled her enough she'd let him go. And then later tried to kill him, but he was trying not to think that far and truly didn't believe the witch would intentionally harm Aoko. However, "intentionally" didn't cover things Akako didn't know about.

That's when the first bullet screamed past his ear. Kaito jerked away and every police officer in the room flattened to the floor and scuttled for the nearest form of cover. Kaito cursed under his breath and moved, ignoring the rounds of gunfire tracking him, and dropped into a slide, letting his forward momentum thrust him under a display table, which he upended with an upwards kick. Pottery shattered on the gallery floor an instant later.

Kaito's impromptu barricade shuddered as a shot slammed into it, knocking it back and into his side. One gunman, he thought, and it wasn't Hakuba this time. The shots had come from the police, which meant Nakamori was going to rip someone several new orifices as soon as the whole mess was sorted out… assuming they all got out of this situation alive.

A British voice cursed on Kaito's left followed by another gunshot, higher-pitched and marginally softer than the gunfire pinning the police down. Hakuba's pistol, Kaito though, quashing a flash of vicious satisfaction as the shot was answered with a gurgling cry and the heavier gun stopped firing.

The acrid tang of gunpowder spiked the air as Kaito pulled his top hat off, and cautiously held it over the table while he edged face around the side near the floor, trusting his darker hair wouldn't draw as much attention as the hat, if someone was still shooting. Kaito took in the scene of an art gallery turned battle-ground with a hard swallow. Pots and artifacts, shattered by ricochet and stray bullets spewed debris around the room. Several officers were peeking over other makeshift shelters, assessing how safe it was to come out.

Kaito dropped his hat back down, and pulled it back on his head before he rolled from his prone position to a crouch and slammed his fist into the floor. Pain spiked up his arm, doing nothing to penetrate the sudden haze of sick anger he felt at the telling crimson stain he'd seen glittering where it crept over the gallery's pitted marble floor, pooled around a still hand.

"Hakuba!" Nakamori's snarl snapped out, crushing the heavy silence.

Hakuba Saguru emerged from his shelter and crossed to the steaming inspector in quick, measured steps and knelt next to the corpse. His left hand dipped into a pocket and produced a pair of surgical gloves, which he slipped on with a rubbery snap before checking the victim's throat for a pulse. Largely unnecessary, Kaito knew, as the pool of blood wasn't spreading, and was even beginning to skin over.

"This wasn't caused by my gun," Hakuba said with chill certainty. "The wound is too large for the caliber, and she was shot in the back. Even for a ricochet, the angle is wrong. I suspect this death was not an accident."

_Executed._ Kaito tensed. Instinct, or possibly paranoia, whispered this death wasn't friendly fire, unless the killer traded his or her blue uniform in for a black one. He needed to find Shinichi.

And Akako. His eyes darted quickly over everyone in the room and found no other conspicuous white figures. He had marked every face in the room the moment he walked in, and all but one of them were still present, a bit more frazzled and sporting tell-tale lines of tension in eyes and mouth and set of jaw.

Grim determination settled over him and Kaito pulled a length of black silk from his cuff and wrapped it around his shoulders. A flick raised the hood of the makeshift cloak over his head and he flattened his top hat and stowed it quickly in his jacket before edging away from the distracted police – a bit of moving shadow not noticed in their focus on the cooling corpse behind him on the gallery floor. Kaito slid out the gallery door without fanfare, and took a deep breath of night air, clearing the coppery stench of blood from his nose as he vanished into the shadows of Kakunoshin's garden.

.oOo.

"A car pulled away ten minutes ago," Shinichi said, scrambling a bit to haul his small body over the railing until Kaito wordlessly offered a hand and pulled him up the rest of the way. They perched on the highest point of Kakunoshin's home, accessible only by sliding out the right window, scurrying over a few gables - glazed clay tiles slick with the earlier rain. The roof was high up enough for Kaito's hang glider to be of some use, gave _them_ an excellent view, and took advantage of the fact that most people never thought to look _up_. "It was heading towards Ekoda."

Kaito answered with a raised eyebrow and a grimly amused smile. "How do you figure that, Shinichi? Ekoda's hardly the only part of Tokyo to the south of us."

"But it is the only part of Tokyo that would leave peat in the tires," Shinichi pointed out, digging a small plastic bag that contained scrapings of dark, clingy soil with a few bits of decaying vegetation in the muck.

"Right." Kaito stood and stretched, relaxing into a loose ready posture as the hang glider's control appeared in his hand. "Think you can get down on your own? Call the professor or your dad and let them know what's going on. They're going to worry if we're out much later."

"Then they'll worry. I'm coming with you."

Kaito glanced down at Shinichi, found determined eyes staring back, hard as bits of chipped cobalt as Shinichi's hand slipped the evidence bag back in his pocket and cinched up the straps to their carry bag more firmly around his shoulders. "I'm coming with you," Shinichi repeated, making each word deliberate. "The hang glider can carry both of us."

Kaito stayed silent for a long moment before he nodded and stooped swiftly to scoop Shinichi into his arms. A long string of scarves from his sleeve, pulled with an unconscious flourish before Kaito fashioned them into a makeshift harness and tied Shinichi to his chest. The hang glider erupted behind them with a snap and whoosh of cloth pulling tight over an aluminum frame. "Hang on."

.oOo.

They landed on a wide driveway some distance away from Akako's house, the stark light from the streetlamps casting shadows from the leaves of the phalanx of trees surrounding the woods. The shifting of shadows in the midsummer night's wind looked sinister against the flamboyant gloom of the house. Shinichi tumbled free of Kaito as they worked the knots of his makeshift harness loose, and pushed himself back to his feet as Kaito straightened from the more-practiced crouch he had landed in. Shinichi brushed dust and debris from his clothes as Kaito adjusted his suit and cape to conceal the hang glider. Kaito moved an instant later, storming past Shinichi like a white-clad ghost of vengeance. Shinichi scrambled after him and lunged for the flapping edge of the cape, twining his fingers through the slippery material as it tried to slide away like trapped moonlight.

"Are you planning to just march up to the front door?" Shinichi demanded, getting a firmer grip. When Kaito seemed intent to just drag his smaller companion along without slowing down, Shinichi tugged hard, throwing his weigh backwards, and forced Kaito to not only slow down, but stumble backwards, almost pulling him off his feet. But it got his attention and he looked back impatiently as Shinichi blew a stray bit of hair out of his eyes, keeping his small hands securely fisted in Kaito's cape.

"I'm not going to hold you back," Shinichi told him. "But if you barge in there … Look, Kid, we don't have a plan, but if you can just distract her, maybe I can dart her with my watch. I can help, but not if you're dead set on slipping out of _my_ grasp too."

Kaito looked from the hands gripping his cape to Shinichi's serious blue eyes staring from behind Conan's lens, took a breath, and relaxed a few degrees. "You're right. I'm not used to working with anyone else, but …I guess I better get used to this." Shinichi breathed a suppressed sigh of relief and loosened his hold on Kid's cape. Kaito half-turned, letting the cape swirl around him and settle where it belonged. "Stay out of sight, okay? She probably knows I'm here already, and she might have noticed you. If we're lucky she didn't, but I'd rather not be the one sleep-darted if she snags you in a spell."

"Spooky ambience and being a crazy kidnapper don't equal magic spells," Shinichi sighed. "You're buying into her insanity."

"Fine, fine, there is no magic," Kaito said, waving away the protests. "None at all, this is a completely normal outing for the both of us! But cards up your sleeve don't work so well if the other players know you're cheating." Kaito reached into his jacket and pulled out a double handful of objects in a greater variety than he'd turned over to Shinichi earlier. Some looked like ball bearings, and a few were silvery cylinders, with a smaller collection that were matte black and studded with holes. He cupped Shinichi's hands and poured the entire collection into his palms. "The cylinders are flash grenades. The ones with holes are smoke bombs. The round ones are just various sound effects." Kaito said, identifying the objects as he reached into one pocket and pulled out a set of lock picks. "Think you're up to using these?"

Shinichi hastily dropped the other things into his pockets and reached out to accept the lock picks. "Won't you need them?"

"I have more than one set with me," Kaito laughed, then sobered, folding his arms. "You can use them?"

"If I have to, yes."

"I hope you won't have to, but I have no idea what we'll be facing in there. Last time stage magic got me out, but the stakes are higher this time. This time, it's not me she wants."

Shinichi's face darkened, and he pocketed the small arsenal. "Pandora."

Kaito answered with a solemn nod and Shinichi felt a flash of guilt as his hand brushed against the jewel's smooth facets. He hadn't had time to put it back in its hiding place before Kaito had dragged him off and now … "I think you're right: we need to destroy this thing as soon as we can."

"We'll need it to destroy a few other things first," Kaito said grimly, pulling his father's monocle away from his eye and holding it up to catch stray bits of light from the lamps along the nearby street. "It's good at that."

Kaito refitted the monocle to his eye and Kid's grin flashed across his face as he bowed dramatically in a flurry of white to his too-serious older cousin. Shinichi snorted and shook his head as he ducked into the trees, leaving Kaito to stride out into the open.

The front door of the house swung open under his hand and Kaito palmed a smoke grenade in one glove hand, expecting Koizumi's manservant to appear from behind the opened door, especially when it closed behind him with the snick of a lock sliding home. Kaito resisted the urge to stare when he turned and found nothing, as there was _no way_ the shambling manservant from earlier was capable of hiding without the use of secret passages and hidden doors. A high-pitched, fey cackle whispered through the air, making the finer hairs on the back of Kaito's neck prickle up. _Sound effects_, he told himself firmly. _So she's got her creepy house wired for sound and probably has more secret rooms than the Winchester house. You can deal. Find Aoko, charm your way of here, thief boy. Hope you don't need the cavalry or that Shinichi gets a good shot at her. That's the plan._

"Ah, there you are, sir," a gravelly voice spoke, and Kaito nearly jumped out of his skin as he found the hunch-back grin of the butler across the entryway, beside an archway. "The ladies are waiting for you in the south morning room."

_Eeegh! Well, mystery of the missing butler solved. Lead on, Quasimodo, I'll play along for now._ Kaito nodded and the manservant turned and shambled ahead of him, seemingly at home in the half-light of the intermittent illumination that speckled the hallway and rooms they passed. It made the short journey seem surreal and bizarrely polite, like a vampire's high tea instead of a rescue operation. _Never let it be said that Koizumi lacks a flair for the dramatic, _Kaito thought. _And we're here. Again._

The south morning room turned out to be the same one Akako had confronted Kaito and Shinichi in before, but now the ornate chess set was set to one side, and it was spread for a mad hatter's high tea. Koizumi was watching him from over her tea cup, which she set down as he swept past her butler, and waved expansively in greeting. "Happy birthday, Kid-san! Though I suppose we don't quite have enough guests to host you a proper party, do we?" Beside the witch, Aoko sat with dull eyes, unresponsive to the appearance of her most hated person and sitting more demurely than Kaito had ever seen her sit. He repressed a shudder as Koizumi continued, "I should have invited your detective friends, perhaps?"

"What is this about, Miss Witch?" Kaito asked, ignoring her taunts. Out of the corner of his vision he could see movement, someone stealthily creeping around the hedges towards the locked windows that framed the crescent moon. Kaito walked away from the windows and the door, forcing Akako's attention to shift away from Shinichi's prowling to remain on him.

"To business then?" she asked. "The heist note was just to get your attention. You _always_ appear when someone uses your reputation without permission. I want the Stone you carry. Since I can't simply order you to give it to me, I had to find something _you_ valued as much as_ I_ value _it_."

"The daughter of the man set on capturing me?" Kaito asked, folding his arms, and letting a bit of amused condescension leak into his tone. "An … interesting choice. Or did you just require a damsel in distress and Nakamori-san was convenient?"

"Whichever you wish," Akako allowed with a smile. "So, the terms are simple, you give me the Philosopher's Stone, and I return Aoko-san completely unharmed."

"Or?" Kaito baited, calling the bluff. "You won't kill her because you, Miss Witch. You've tried to kill me twice already and couldn't; and I'm somewhat more of a threat to you than Nakamori-san."

Akako's habitually seductive smile turned feral. "_Unharmed_ covers more territory than _not dead_, Kid-san," she pointed out, "And you have so many interesting secrets you've been keeping from her."

Kaito felt his fist clench and forced himself to relax. Shinichi was now studying the latch for a way in, and had the borrowed lock picks in one hand. It was, Kaito decided, high time for a distraction.

"As it happens, I don't have Pandora with me," he said, plucking one of the folded napkins from its place on the table and shaking it out like he was preparing a parlor trick. "Even if I had changed my mind and was willing to give it you. It's hidden and I'm the only one that knows where. If you do anything to harm, mutate, or transmogrify Nakamori Aoko – or anyone else I know – then you'll never find it." His voice stayed light, only barely betraying the underlying steel of threat underneath the words.

Then the window latch sprang open, and Shinichi tumbled in. Koizumi shifted at the sound, turning as Shinichi's dart whispered past, glittering for an instant before dissolving into Aoko's bare arm. Aoko's eyes cleared, sharpened for an instant, then rolled up into her head and she slumped forward. Kaito dove forward to catch her and Akako reeled back, out of his path.

The witch's expression smoldered as she glanced between the thief carefully setting his friend to one side and his accomplice who was lining up crosshairs on her again, and didn't look like he'd miss this time. Growling, she mentally abandoned the field and slid one hand into the hidden pocket of her robes. Her distraction would serve well enough for escape even without her prize, and Kid wasn't the only one that could play with smoke and mirrors.

Akako pulled a vial half-filled with softly glowing liquid from the folds of her dress and dropped it. The vial shattered, splashing liquid littered with glittery shards of glass across the floor; liquid that was quickly transmuting into coiling mist as it evaporated. The two boys looked from the growing miasma to Koizumi as she backed away, hand groping behind her until her fingers caught on a particular ornament embedded in the wall and pushed. Part of the wall slid open, just wide enough for one person to slip through just as heavy, deliberate footsteps were heard coming from the hall outside the room.

Kaito covered Aoko's face with the compact gasmask he carried, filtering whatever the witch had been released, and covered his own face with the fabric of his cape, the tightest-woven thing he had. Shinichi had scrambled back, closer to the open air whispering in through the open window. "Kid! Grab Nakamori and let's go!"

The door crashed open and both of them froze. "Too late," Kid said, releasing Aoko and rising slowly to his feet to face the threat. A dark fedora over long silver hair tipped in their direction, shading cold eyes that glinted with a ruthless sort of insanity.

"Good evening, thief. Detective."

Akako had stilled, steps away from escape, and was looking with confusion from the two pale boys to the specter of the man standing at the doorway. Shinichi shrank back, instinctively drawing away from the man's reptilian gaze, and choked out the only warning he could as the room's light caught on the oiled metal in the man's hand. "Gin."

"Good night, boys," Gin's mouth twitched upward and Shinichi grabbed at Kaito's jacket, shouting wordlessly as Gin pulled the trigger.

* * *

**Kat Notes**: Somehow, I feel like I should point out that the next chapter (heck, the next 60,000 words) is already written. There won't be any of this multi-month wait thing happening this time. Y'know ... incase anyone was considering pitchforks and castle storming for demonic felines. Ah, the old "if you kill me, you'll never know what happens" ploy.


	11. Until Proven Innocent

**Chapter 11 – Until Proven Innocent**

_"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together...  
there is something you must always remember.  
You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem,  
and smarter than you think.  
But the most important thing is,  
even if we're apart… I'll always be with you." _

**_~ A. A. Milne ~_**

.oOo.

"Kid! Kaito!"

A soccer ball launched towards Gin, rebounding against the far wall and shattering a potted plant as the phantasm vanished. Shinichi dashed forward, eyes widening and terror washing through him as Kaito staggered back and blood started blossoming across the white of Kid's cape and tuxedo jacket.

Lung shot, a clinical portion of Shinichi's mind noted, pushing aside a growing shock and panic. The stain was spreading, which meant Kaito's heart was still beating. All he had to do was keep it beating and cut off the flow long enough for help to arrive.

.oOo.

Aoko shoved against the silky wool miring her thoughts, struggling to think and feel despite the fuzziness that seemed determined to keep her in the dark. A child's voice cut through the haze, panic drenching it and forcing her to tense even if she couldn't understand the words. She wrenched her eyes open and her breath caught as Kaitou Kid sprawled before her like a discarded doll. His top hat had rolled away, fetching up unheeded against a chair, leaving messy brown hair sticking up at all angles, and eyes screwed shut, one still covered in polished glass. His gloved hand landed next to her, curling into a fist on the floor. Aoko's breath caught and the stench of the blood hit her full force.

A flurry of blue interposed itself between her and Kid, small hands reaching out to wrench the monocle away from his face and set it aside before pushing the blood-soaked shirt and jacket. Koizumi Akako dropped into view next, her hands fluttering towards the torn fabric only to be slapped away savagely by the strange little boy hunched protectively over the thief. He stripped off his jacket and folded it into a thick pad.

"Nakamori-san," Edogawa said, grabbing her hands and guiding them to press the jacket's fabric against the chest wound. "Hold it. Put pressure on the wound. You," his eyes crackled as they focused on the shell-shocked witch who knelt nearby. "Call an ambulance."

She shook her head, pale. "This shouldn't have happened."

"Damn right it shouldn't have," Edogawa snarled. "Now call an ambulance before he dies of blood loss!"

"Little late for that," Kaito coughed, opening his eyes halfway. "Told you magic was real."

Edogawa dropped his eyes into one hand, smearing streaks of red across his face. "Kaito …"

"Kuroba, it was only an illusion," Akako said suddenly, desperation coloring her voice.

"Feels real, Miss Witch," Kaito wheezed, a dangerous gurgle underlining the words.

"It wasn't!" Akako's nails left thin gouges in the floorboards. "Please, Kuroba. Your life depends on you believing me! It was just a spell. A distraction. It was supposed to manifest your greatest enemies. I thought it would be those silly detectives and the buffoon inspector."

"Our enemies are more deadly than law enforcement," Edogawa said quietly, getting to his feet. "And we don't believe you."

"And your fear … his _belief_ in them made them real!" she snapped, eyes flashing.

Edogawa wordlessly held out a blood-drenched hand to her, glasses glinting in the light as he lowered his face. "Belief and hope don't make things real."

"Then where are they?" Akako rose to her feet, and threw her hand out. "Where is your enemy now, little one? Or does _he_ vanish like your thief?"

.oOo.

Shinichi looked around and saw an abandoned soccer ball and a mortally wounded thief the only indication of any previous danger, now passed. Shinichi deflated, shaking his head trying to understand, until he abruptly still, and looked up, a sort of desperate hope lighting his eyes. "Koizumi, can the Philosopher's Stone heal? Kaito read up on it, but I wouldn't listen to him. Can it heal?"

"It ..." Koizumi hesitated then nodded briskly. "It can. Or it could if we had it, but we don't exactly have time for a treasure hunt, little one."

Shinichi glanced back looking at Kaito for a moment then plunged a hand into his pocket and pulling out a small, glittery object that flashed crimson in his palm. "Kaito said I'd never find it," he said as explanation. "What do I do with it?" An acquisitive glitter brightened Akako's eyes and Shinichi tensed, stepping out of reach when she reached for the Stone. "I'll do it. Just tell me what needs to be done."

She pulled her hand back and folded them both in front of her. "Put it under his tongue. That should get the Elixir into his blood stream quickly. Not for long, though," she cautioned, as Shinichi knelt next to Kaito and signaled Aoko to help him, which she did woodenly, eyes flickering a bit wildly. "And don't let him swallow it! The Philosopher's Stone reverses time. Too much, and the resemblance between you really will be striking."

"Let's not shrink you, thief," Shinichi snorted, slipping the Stone under Kaito's tongue. "We're not _that_ close to a cure yet." Kaito had lost consciousness again at some point, and his shallow breathing wasn't encouraging, and the blood flow had slowed in its inexorable creep through Shinichi's blazer.

Then his breathing stopped.

The moment was terrifying, watching as Kaito's body settled into an alien stillness enhanced by the lack of color in his skin. Shinichi crept forward and tentatively pressed his fingers to Kaito's throat, feeling for a pulse. He shut his eyes, shaking his head and rocking back onto his heels when no movement fluttered beneath his fingertips. "It …"

"Worked," Aoko finished for him as her hand – the one that still lay against Kaito's chest – moved. "It worked."

The next breath was deeper, and completely free of the gurgle of drowning in his own blood. He took two more unlabored breaths before summoning the strength to roll over, face against the floor, spit out Pandora, and stay that way, panting. "What … happened?" he gasped.

"You died," Shinichi told him, helping him roll back over and sit up. Aoko let the blood-soaked blazer fall to Kaito's lap and reached out like she wanted to hug him, but held back. His shredded and stained dress shirt hung open, the ragged hole in his chest had scabbed over, and the bruising was starting to show up vividly.

"'m not now?" Kaito asked woozily, and Shinichi snorted a relieved laugh. He reached over to scoop up the clear Stone, watching red swirl through it for an instant before shifting to tuck it back into a pocket, away from the avaricious gaze of the witch. A stained white glove clamped around his wrist with surprising strength before he could, and Shinichi found Kaito's abruptly more lucid eyes on him. "Why is Pandora here?" Shinichi yanked his wrist out of Kaito's grip and finished stowing the gem in his shirt pocket. "I _hid_ that stone, Shinichi."

"You hid it. I found it," Shinichi told him succinctly. "And I'm glad I did. Maybe you should start wearing a flak vest under that silly jacket of yours. If you're feeling good enough to argue with me, then it's time for us to go. Nakamori-san? Would you help? You've got a better reach than I do."

"I can stand." Kaito flopped forward and struggled to get his hands beneath himself, clinging to a chair when that didn't work to haul his body more or less upright.

"But you can't walk," Aoko informed him, slipping her head and a shoulder underneath one of his arms and shifting their combined weight so he fell against her so she could push them both to their feet. "Idiot. This is the most bungled rescue ever, Kaito."

"Oh, I don't know," Kaito panted, trying to sound conversational and at ease even though he was visibly trembling. "I'm not in handcuffs yet. And Miss Witch is letting us go."

The witch in question was being watched with laser focus by a faux-seven-year-old and not being allowed closer than five paces. She watched Aoko shoulder most of her friend's weight silently, looking almost contrite … or as contrite as they had ever seen her anyway until she momentarily ignored her diminutive guard and smiled. "We'll say you've won this round. You're my favorite challenge, Kuroba-kun, and that pretty bauble you have is good for far more than its elixir. However," she held up a hand to curtail Shinichi's growl and Aoko's sudden glare, "for now all I ask is that you don't get yourselves killed in whatever you've become embroiled in. It's …" she looked away suddenly and took a steadying breath, "I didn't mean for you to be hurt."

Kaito looked at her for a long moment before he leaned a bit more heavily against Aoko and smiled softly. "Apology accepted, Miss Witch."

.oOo.

They stumbled away, leaving magic and blood behind with the witch, and moved as quickly as they could while keeping to the shadows. Police patrols, undoubtedly called up by Nakamori to search for his missing daughter drove past a handful of times, sending them stumbling into cover. Aoko said nothing each time Shinichi ordered them into an alley or skittering down the shoulder of the road, she just bit her lip and nudged Kaito along.

They kept moving until Kaito couldn't anymore. Healed or not, the blood loss and adrenalin were taking their toll. He was breathing heavily before they left, and wheezing before they finally stopped in drain way slightly off the road. Aoko handed him his monocle, rescued and tucked in her clothes before she turned away. Kaito looked after her, then down at the smudged bit of glass and ivory in his hand before closing his eyes and sagging against the cement wall.

Shinichi had vanished the moment they arrived, but a soft step sounded off to his left, heralding the other's return. A moment later Kaito felt Shinichi's warmth settled beside him and heard the click of a closing cell phone. He'd been using the screen light as in impromptu flashlight, Kaito realized idly. Easy enough for eyes adjusted to darkness to follow, but much harder to spot from the road than the stronger flashlight built into his omni-watch.

"I called dad," Shinichi said, sounding tired. "I think Mom's driving."

"They'll be here soon then," Kaito said. "Think I'm going to pass out for a while, Shinichi. Is that okay with you?" He didn't wait for an answer.

.oOo.

Shinichi's cell phone beeped and he held it up, checking the number that flashed across the screen before climbing to his feet and waving Aoko back down when she noticed and started to rise. "The cavalry's here. I'm just going to go meet them."

Her eyes alone followed him out of their hideaway, watching as the odd child vanished into the darkness, focusing on that spot to keep her eyes from wandering to … other things. Out of edge of her vision, the boy she had always regarded as her best friend slumped against the wall. He was still unnaturally pale, but he was breathing and that's what she forced herself to focus on.

Kaito was breathing, and he was alive. Even though his blood was still on her hands – dried and largely flaked off now – and the ragged once-white blanket that covered him was really a normally-pristine cape she had snarled imprecations at as she watched it vanish into the night too many times to count … he was alive.

"Well, you three look a mess," a new voice said, drawing Aoko out of her thoughts as a man stepped out of the darkness with Edogawa trailing at his heels. Aoko blinked, trying to clear away the memory that surfaced as she looked at the newcomer. A bushier mustache bristled under his nose, and his hair had found a comb at some point, but Aoko felt her eyes widening, and began wondering if the breath she had felt Kaito take under her hand had been only because _she_ had been shot as well. Did the dead breathe?

"Kuroba-san?" she asked tremulously, breath hitching in her throat as she spoke. "Kaito's … father?"

"Eh?" the man looked over to her, confused, until his face softened and he shook his head. "Kudou. My name is Kudou Yuusaku. You've mistaken me for my brother, Toichi. Kaito is my nephew. Shinichi," he laid a hand on the small boy's head, "is my son." He knelt down in front of the unconscious thief and laying a hand against his forehead to check the boy's temperature, relaxing almost imperceptibly after he did, then started to prod the teenager awake. "Kaito? Can you wake up enough to stand?"

"He's lost a lot of blood," Aoko offered quietly. "And he's been out of it since Edoga … Shinichi-san called you."

"I'm okay," Kaito said, finally opening his eyes and shifting against the concrete of the wall. "'M not out of it. Was just …resting my eyes. It's been a long night." Yuusaku moved closer so he could drag on of Kaito's arms over his shoulder and looked over the messy brown head of hair as Aoko stepped forward to sling Kaito's free arm over her shoulders.

"Let's get you all out of here and into the car where it's warmer. We could use some better light, Shinichi, and I think we can chance it for now."

Shinichi nodded and pocketed his phone before pressing a button on the side of his watch and igniting a thin beam of light for them to follow as he led the way back up to the road. Soon, all slid into the backseat of the Kudou's dark-colored car with Aoko going first so she could steady the silent but still-woozy Kaito as he was gingerly helped in, and Shinichi clambering in last. The door shut behind them, and the car was silent until the driver's side front door opened and Yuusaku climbed in as well and started the engine.

He glanced up into the review mirror, both to check for traffic and on his passengers in the backseat. Shinichi had his knees pulled up to his chest. His ever-present glasses were tucked in his shirt pocket safely away from scratches or cracks, and he was sitting just close enough that he brushed up against Kaito's uninjured right side.

Aoko looked like she was forcing herself to stay awake, not giving in to the warmth of the heated car, and pointedly not looking at the young man beside her. She finally settled on leaning against the door and staring out the front window. In all, the faces that he saw behind him were upset, blank, and ragged by turns, exhausted by whatever bramble thicket life had pulled them through backwards, so Yuusaku drove silently.

.oOo.

People waited on the path when he pulled up to the house, familiar even in silhouette. Chikage stood there, the long, practical lines of her adjusted lab coat white in the thin light escaping the house, and her hair permanently taking on a well-tamed look; not as mercilessly tamed as when she had been Absinthe, but tamer than the wild disarray of the magician's artist wife.

Beside her fidgeted Professor Agasa, watching each car expectantly as it passed, and taking a step forward when the correct one finally arrived. The old scientist was the first at the car door, offering a hand to Aoko as she half fell out. She looked around, unsure, until her eyes fell on the familiar form of Kaito's mother and gasped. Chikage came forward then, placing a hand on Aoko's shoulder and smiling sadly. She leaned closer, speaking quietly to Aoko, whose face schooled itself into an unreadable expression. Aoko managed a nod before walking stiffly towards the front door.

Kaito crawled out next, stumbling as his feet met solid ground, and Yuusaku darted forward to catch him. Kaito breathed out a thank you as his uncle helped him upright. He was better now than when the small group had been huddled beside the road, and one assistant was enough. He was either getting better, Yuusaku acknowledged, or just being grimly stubborn.

"Kaito, do I want to know who that young lady is?"

"Shinichi didn't tell you?" Kaito asked, his voice curiously flat and emotionless.

"Shinichi refused to go into details over the phone," Yuusaku told him. "And none of you looked up to an interrogation in the car."

"Her name is Nakamori Aoko," Kaito said, voice quieting. "She's … or well, she _was_ my best friend."

They stepped into the brightness of the Kudou home, and Kaito slid heavily off his uncle's shoulder to the floor where he could wrestle off his scuffed and stained dress shoes. The cape they'd tucked around his shoulders as a makeshift blanket fell away revealing the shiny pink of a newly-healed scar amidst the wreckage of his gore-stained suit. Kaito looked down at his chest and poked gingerly at a bit of dress shirt that had adhered to his skin, pulling it away with a wince. "I need a shower," Kaito said, reaching above his head to find purchase enough to haul himself to his feet. He teetered for a moment once he was on his feet before stabilizing and took a step.

"Still dizzy?"

"Lost a lot of blood back there," Kaito answered.

"_Died_ back there," Shinichi corrected. "You stopped breathing, and I couldn't find a pulse."

"I'm feeling pretty lively for a dead guy," Kaito snorted, a tired grin stretching across his mouth. "Which reminds me … you, Kudou Shinichi, are a thief."

"I …" Shinichi started then broke off blushing and looked away, scuffing at the floor in embarrassment. It earned him a look of curiosity from his father. Shinichi sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out Pandora and handing it back to Kaito. Kaito's gloved fingers curled around it and he waved off Yuusaku when the older man moved to help him.

"You are a mess," Haibara pronounced, as she appeared in the doorway, drawn by the voices and noise. Kaito looked at her, not sure if she was speaking to him or the diminutive detective. "How are you still standing after losing that much blood?"

Kaito held Pandora balanced in his hand, clear against the spotted white fabric of his gloves. "Shinichi decided to see if that elixir of immortality actually worked after a phantasm in a black coat put a bullet through my lung."

"You were found by the Organization?!" the cry was heard from three separate voices in unison and the boys winced.

"It was an illusion," Shinichi piped up, holding up his hands defensively and looking wildly to Kaito. "Probably some form of mass hypnosis. That's why Aoko-san didn't even notice us until you got shot."

"Or magic," Kaito added, hand slipping from where he had it braced against a wall. "You know what, Shinichi? You're on. You tell them the details. I'm going to clean the blood off and collapse on your bed."

Haibara's eyes narrowed at the thief, and she fell into step behind him. "Kudou can fill me in later," she said, when he looked back and down at his blonde shadow. "If you've taken anything from the jewel, I want to examine you."

Kaito sighed and waved for her to precede him. "No needles, though. You don't get any of my blood until I have some to give. And all vampires need not apply."

.oOo.

Shinichi watched Kaito until he was halfway up the stairs to the second floor, clinging to the rail with one hand and moving at a normal pace. A normal pace for anyone else was decidedly abnormal for the hyperkinetic thief, though, and to Shinichi's eyes Kaito still looked ragged. A warm hand on the crown of his head drew Shinichi's attention away and refocused it on his father, who was looking at him with concern.

"Anything I should know about tonight before we go into the living room and you explain what happened?"

Shinichi winced. "You know how I don't want Ran to find out about Conan?" Shinichi asked. "Kaito didn't want Aoko finding out about Kid. She hates Kid."

"We'll talk to her about that too," Yuusaku assured him, herding him forward towards the warm glow of the living room.

.oOo.

Aoko sat curled in a chair, clutching a steaming mug of coffee between her hands like it was the last source of warmth on earth. She looked up as Shinichi and his father filed in, and sent a nervous glance toward Kaito's mother, who was sitting between the girl and the door with a remarkable sense of calm about her.

"Nakamori-san?" Yuusaku started.

"I thought it would be better to give Aoko time to pull herself back together," Chikage answered. "It's been a harrowing night."

Yuusaku ran a hand through his hair, tousling it so it stuck out at all angles, and nodded. Aoko caught herself staring at him with pained familiarity before looking away, and not watching as he continued. "I've heard most of it from Shinichi, but perhaps you should tell us what happened from your point of view, Aoko-san"

"I'd rather just go home, Kudou-san," Aoko answered, still not looking at him, her knuckles going white with the pressure she strangled her coffee mug with. "I've told Kuroba-san what I remember, and it wasn't much. I went to the restroom, and got lost. Hattori-kun found me … except it wasn't _Hattori Heiji_ that found me, it was _Kuroba_ _Kaito_. Who isn't even supposed to be in the country, and now I find he's been gallivanting around Japan with a cousin no one knew about!" Aoko's voice sharpened as she spoke until it was quiet, snarling, and cold. And she hadn't looked at any of them, preferring to stare out the window into the dark night beyond.

"You realize how insane that sounds?" Aoko set her coffee mug on the end table next to her and folded her arms while pinning Shinichi with a piercing look. "And considering that my … well, considering that I've grown up with _Kaito – _and all of the random insanity involved there – and what we just came from … I shouldn't find anything crazy in comparison."

"Aoko-san ..." Shinichi started, but she cut him off.

"I don't want to hear you say you understand, Edogawa-kun – or Kudou-san, or whatever you've decided to call yourself this time. My best friend is the one person I've ever hated and by all rights I should tell my father the moment I next see him." She levered herself out of her seat and took several steps away from it, fists clenched at her sides, and Shinichi could see the shine of tears at the corner of her eyes . "Never mind. I'll find my own way home," she said.

Shinichi lunged forward and placed himself directly into her path before she'd taken more than a few steps toward the door and spread his arms to bar her from leaving. "You're right. I _don't_ understand, Aoko-san," Shinichi's voice was somber, his eyes serious and much older than the face that held them. "But you need to talk to Kaito. If he was your best friend, he deserves a chance to explain some of it even if you decide not to trust him after this. He can give you the rest of the explanation, and you deserve to hear it even if you don't agree with why he did any of it." A sharp, calculating light sparked in Shinichi's eyes as he dropped his arms and stepped aside. "Or you can leave right now, and wonder about it for the rest of your life."

.oOo.

The door opened, throwing a slice of hallway light into the room and bisecting the dark room beyond. Aoko slid furtively through the opening and reached behind her, shutting the door to close out the light and stood there, a slightly darker specter against the shadows. It took several minutes before her eyes adjusted, etching shapes out of the shadows and subtle movement on the bed. There was enough light coming in through the windows – cast from the moon above, the streetlamps below and the omnipresent glow of the metropolis around them – that she could even make out some details of the room's other occupant.

"You can turn a light on if you want," Kaito said from the bed, not opening his eyes and not moving. Aoko stilled, hesitating, and Kaito moved, shifting so he was propped up on his elbows then sliding backward so he was sitting against the headboard. "Or does the darkness make saying goodbye easier?"

Aoko started, then sighed and looked away. "It doesn't make it easier."

"Would anything?"

"Kaito, I …"

He cut her off. "Aoko. Why are you still here?"

"They … _he_ said I should hear the explanation. From you. Even if I didn't agree with it, I should hear it." She paused and looked up. Kaito was sitting up, arms wrapped around his blanket-shrouded legs, and watching her with his chin on his knees. "Your cousin said you should get the chance to tell me what's going on." She took a few steps forward, words rushing on heedlessly. "I've tried so hard to prove you _weren't _Kid! Dad suspected you … Hakuba suspected you … Akako apparently _knew_… and they were right! But I'm not stupid, Kaito, and I can see there's a lot more going on here than making my dad look stupid just because you can. So all I want to know is why? You … your cousin … all of it. Why?"

"My cousin," he answered, sounding a bit grumpy, "has been avoiding this very conversation with Mouri Ran. And it's patently _not fair_ that you found out when she won't."

"Who is Mouri Ran?" Aoko asked, voice dropping dangerously, folding her arms and glaring through the darkness at him with a look that promised death if he was changing the subject to avoid her question.

"It's … Aoko, you're not the only one we haven't saddled with all these secrets. Ran is Shinichi's best friend; from before he was Edogawa Conan, in case you were wondering. They've been friends their entire lives and she's the girl he's completely ass over teacups in love with. She doesn't know either. He hasn't told her."

"Will he?"

"That is completely up to him," Kaito answered. "It's not a secret _I'm_ going to bring her in on, and I'll keep it if he wants me to. I've been pretending to be Shinichi since mom and I went 'on holiday.' I thought it was safer to be someone _they_ wouldn't think to look for. This isn't a new identity being slipped into the system, and they've already ruled Kudou Shinichi as taken care of. I'm stuck being him until we get everything figured out. As angry as you are with me, Shinichi needs me. Kaitou Kid is retired, but I can't turn myself in; not yet. That's your why, Aoko."

"You're not giving your last heist back, then, are you?" she asked, and watched as Kaito shook his head and looked down. She understood: he couldn't. "It's the stone from earlier? The one you almost swallowed?" She received a silent nod in confirmation and she felt like she could almost see the secrets swirling around her childhood friend, binding him more securely than handcuffs or a cell ever could. Aoko moved another step closer, her knees bumping against the end of the bed. "Were you ever really out of the country?"

"Mom was," he answered. "I was here. Hiding various places the first week while I got everything stored away, and then here in this house the second."

"When you started pretending to be your cousin."

"I didn't know that at the time." She could hear a weak smile in his voice and the rasp of fabric as he shifted around in the bed. "I needed a detective. Kudou just had more I could hold over his head. Hattori's too far away. Hakuba would have tried to cuff me and bring them in himself."

Aoko took up a spot at the end of the bed, but stayed silent, watching and listening. "Did they tell you any of this? My dad was the first Kaitou Kid, the one your dad chased when we were younger."

"Your mom knew," Aoko supplied. "She told me about his death … murder."

"I became Kid because I wanted them to think maybe they missed. I _wanted_ them to be curious, to show up and try again. It was the only lead I had, and I thought maybe your dad would be able to catch them."

Kaito didn't really look up as he lapsed into silence, he was busy studying the wall he probably couldn't even see somewhere beyond her right shoulder. She mulled over his explanation, fitting it together with the other parts of the story his family had related to her downstairs and turning the emerging narrative over in her mind.

Her best friend had made himself _bait for known murderers_. Good cause or not, she boggled that he hadn't told _anyone_. Not even his mother, and certainly not her father. Her father could have had the investigation into Kuroba Toichi's death reopened, right? And he would have, Kaitou Kid or not, if he'd had any solid evidence to say the magician's death hadn't been a stage accident.

"Kaito … why didn't you tell anyone? Dad could help you look if he knew! He …"

"Wouldn't have wanted me to help," Kaito said flatly. "Or he'd have expected me to go to the academy and have a badge before I did. He'd never have allowed a sixteen-year-old to dance across the rooftops in white formal wear _trying _to be shot at. It's crazy, and your dad's not. You asked me why: because it's _my_ problem, and my dad's legacy … my case, as the detective would call it. And it's not going to just go away if I ignore it long enough. My aunt and uncle tried that, and look what happened to Shinichi."

"The same people?" Aoko questioned. "You're sure of that?"

"We are now," he nodded. "I remember him, you know that? I remember the Kudous at dad's funeral. I even knew Kudou Yukiko because I'd followed dad one time when he went to meet her. But I just thought they were friends of my parents, and Shinichi stood with his mom the entire time and I wouldn't go over and talk to him, even when mom asked me to. I didn't want to. Funny how we both ended up tangled in the same mess anyway."

Aoko rubbed at her eyes and pulled her feet up onto the bed so she was resting against the footboard. The position forced her to look straight at him, slumped over and ragged, exhaustion etched in every line of his body matching the low ache she felt in her own. Or worse, she thought, as Kaito and Shinichi hadn't had the benefit of being unconscious for part of the tumultuous night. "You've been having a rough time of it lately, haven't you?"

Kaito blinked at her, staring as though she'd sprouted a second head, or informed him it was okay he was Kaitou Kid because she was from a highly advanced society based on a planet orbiting Albiero.

"I'm mad at you," she informed him. "It's going to be a good _long_ time before I forgive you for the lies. You should have told me, Kaito, but I hate Kid so much I can see why you _didn't_. _However_, you _really_ should have told dad. They were friends, and he deserved to know."

Kaito nodded silently, acknowledging her and looking tentatively hopeful because she wasn't screaming, crying, or walking out the door yet. "Are you going to tell your dad?"

"And get you arrested you mean? It wouldn't work," she pointed out grumpily, folding her arms across her chest. "You've got a house full of people that are really good at dealing with the police, and they'll probably all swear up, down, and sideways that you're Shinichi. You could probably come right out and say you're not and they'll just say you hit your head and scrambled something. Even Conan-kun, I think, because I saw how worried he was when you got hurt."

"Shinichi hates seeing people get hurt," Kaito told her. "Unless it's me and he's blowing the motorcycle _I'm riding_ up or drop kicking me out the window, he takes injury to others personally. Jerk."

Aoko coughed at the images, then sobered and shook her head. "He cares about _you_, you dink. He was _terrified_ when you got shot and … well, he needs you. It's obvious. What I hated most about Kid was how he kept stealing my family away, and he couldn't give back the time like he gave back the jewels. By the way, did you _have_ to enjoy humiliating dad as much as you did?" She glared at him and Kaito ducked his head, looking embarrassed.

"He's the only one tenacious enough to put up with my antics without trying to put a bullet through me," Kaito admitted. "And …well, he's really gifted at cursing, Aoko. The more I wound him up the more educational ... and entertaining …the heist was. Ow! Aoko!" he protested, wincing as she reached out and swatted him. "Brat! Have a little sympathy, would you? I got shot!"

"It's amazing you're as healed as you are," Aoko told him. "Anyone else would be still unconscious in intensive care."

"Or dead," Kaito shrugged. "I'm glad the universe likes to break my way sometimes. I have to wonder though …" he trailed off speculatively, and rested his chin on his knees, face half –buried in his woven fingers.

"What?" Aoko asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

"We thought that maybe Pandora's tears was what shrank Shinichi. It was supposed to be a poison, but it just made him really young. The tears can make people young … turn back time somehow, but I'm still the same age. Maybe it's _not_ Pandora and we're looking in the wrong direction. Or maybe I just didn't swallow enough of it." Kaito sighed and freed one hand, flattening the hand then turning his palm up, revealing Pandora resting there.

Aoko uncurled herself and leaned forward, balancing on a hand next to him as she switched on the bedside lamp. They both squinted at the relatively bright light. Then she felt Kaito stiffen beside her. The new illumination brought color to the world and the stone flashed in the light of the bedside lamp. "Move a bit, Aoko," Kaito ordered pushing at her shoulder with his free hand. She pulled away, dropping back to the end of the bed and looked at him to see if she could see what the problem was. Kaito held the jewel up to the light, watching tendrils of crimson swirl through it. "Mom's downstairs, right?" he demanded, struggling his way out of the bed.

Aoko bolted forward and pushed him back into the mattress, snorting when he gave up after only a token struggle and stayed put. "You are an idiot," she informed him. "Whatever it is you just figured out, just stay put and keep replicating blood cells, oh anemic one. I'll go get your mom."

Kaito looked ready to protest, but Aoko shifted and put a hand over his mouth first. "Look, I'm not going to vanish on you completely, and I'm not running away. Not that you could stop me if I _was_, but I promise I'll be right back." He didn't look convinced, but she swung her feet to the floor and took her hand away from his mouth, flicking his nose before standing up. "It's also not like you have any choice in the matter."

Kaito stared after Aoko as she left, pulling the door closed behind her, and he continued listening as her footsteps walked away from the room, leaving him alone with the stone, a lamp, and the moon.


	12. The Laughing Ghost

**Disclaimer:** Own the plot (such as it is), but not the characters, places, or tropes that I shamelessly steal and scramble up for my own amusement.

* * *

.:** Chapter 12 – The Laughing Ghost **:.

"_To me, acting is the most logical way for people's neuroses to manifest themselves, in this great need we all have to express ourselves. To my way of thinking, an actor's course is set even before he's out of the cradle." _

~James Dean~

.oOo.

Squad car lights flickered, adding their varicolored lights to the regular glow of the streetlamps above, occasionally obscured by the flitting shadows of officers as they came and went, stopping beside Inspector Nakamori before leaving again. Each time one of his men approached, Nakamori would pause, listen to their report, and chew harder on the stem of his pipe.

Hakuba Saguru stood nearby; his copy of the Kid heist note spread out on the trunk of a squad car where he had left it after pouring over it for the last hour for some shred of a new lead while alternately watching the inspector pace. The post-heist waiting game was in full swing, leaving everyone with missing jewel, missing thief, and missing inspector's daughter, but little useful to do.

The members of the Task Force wouldn't let him evaporate like Kid had after Aoko had disappeared. It had, in fact, taken more than a bit of arguing to avoid being packed up and handed directly over to his housekeeper and escorted home. The heist was fake, they had two missing phantom thieves, and one missing inspector's daughter, and Nakamori-keibu had no interest in losing a teenage detective as well.

Soft footsteps and the scrape of hard leather against concrete caught their attention moments before a white figure appeared out of the darkness. "Good evening, gentlemen!" a cultured voice hailed, and Kaitou Kid stopped just inside the pool of flickering lights cast by the squad car lights. Nakamori froze in his pacing and took a few steps forward before Kid's upraised hand stopped him, and the thief bowed, the shadows of his hat brim not quite concealing the flash of light off his monocle or the secretive, moustached grin he turned on them. "Inspector! I believe you lost something earlier this evening, and I'm returning it."

"Kid!" Nakamori snarled, advancing on him again, and the white thief leapt backwards and waggled a finger in the inspector's direction.

"Now, now, Inspector! I didn't steal anything tonight; I'm just returning something that was. Your daughter is safe, and you'll find her sleeping soundly in the back seat of your car there," Kid told him, pacing around lightly to keep a healthy distance between himself and the dangerous panicked father. Hakuba straightened at the announcement and lunged for the door to the squad car, cupping his hands around his eyes and leaning forward so he could peer in through the glass.

Seeing a thatch of messy brown hair poking out from beneath a dark blanket, Hakuba stepped back and opened the car door then leaned in and pushed the blanket away from Aoko's face. She shifted, flopping over onto her back, but didn't open her eyes. Hakuba tentatively reached out and pulled on her nose just to be sure she wasn't an officer dressed up in one of Kid's masks. She snorted and batted at his hand, hand still caught in the blanket covering her so she looked rather like a trapped bat.

Kid apparently noticed Hakuba's discovery, because he offered them one final grin and tilted his hat in a silent good evening before a cloud of white smoke erupted at his feet. Nakamori lunged for the specter in the smoke, and crashed into the ground. Kaitou Kid was gone.

.oOo.

"Aoko-san?" Hakuba asked, turning his attention away from the escaped thief and tapping the girl lightly on her face to see if she would wake up. Aoko's eyes opened and the detective received a confused owlish blink from where he leaned over her.

"Hakuba-san?" she asked tentatively. "Which one of us is upside down?"

Hakuba sighed in relief and his lips curved slightly into a smile. "You're lying on the seat of a squad car, Aoko-san."

She looked puzzled at this, and then clearly put it together with the muzzy feeling she was experiencing and her expression darkened. "He drugged me?!" she spat, pulling herself upright and swinging her legs to the floor.

"It would appear so," Hakuba said, then found himself being pushed out of the way by the inspector.

"Aoko! Are you all right? What happened? What were you doing with that thief?" Nakamori demanded, and Aoko folded her arms and growled.

"That thief knocked me out and stuffed me in the back seat of a squad car!"

"And kidnapped you," her father growled, punching his fist into his other hand and clearly wishing it was the thief in his grasp. Aoko frowned at him and shook her head, suddenly thoughtful.

"No … he didn't kidnap me," she told them. "He rescued me from the ones that did. Someone grabbed me when I went to the bathroom. They knocked me out with something, so I didn't get a very good look at them. I could feel that they were wearing gloves, though. Leather ones." Nakamori nodded, and gestured for her to continue. Kid wore cloth gloves, and Aoko found her conscience barely pricked at her for the half-truths she was weaving on Kaito's behalf. "Kid must have been at the fake heist, though," Aoko continued, "because I woke up about the same time he knocked two men in black trench coats out. We left fast because he wasn't sure if there were more."

"Anything you remember specifically about the men or where you were, Aoko?" her father asked and Aoko thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

"It was dark, Dad, and all I remember was that one of the men had long white hair. They were both wearing hats and sunglasses and black trench coats, so I didn't really see their faces."

"What about Kid?" Hakuba added, watching her reaction carefully.

"He blindfolded me before we'd gone very far. We went o a hideout he's been using. We were walking for a really long time, but it could have been the next street over and I'd never have known. I doubt it was on a straight path."

"Damn Kid and his antics!" Nakamori cursed.

"Hmm," Hakuba muttered noncommittally. "It's too bad Kuroba is overseas. He'll be jealous you were the one rescued by his idol."

"Kaito?" Aoko echoed, a dry smile touching her lips. "He'll just be upset that I didn't get him an autograph."

.oOo.

"Just how long have you wanted to do that, Yuusaku?" Yukiko asked as she gunned the engine and peeled away from the curb where she had been idling, waiting for her husband to return. Yuusaku rocked back, her sudden acceleration pressing him into his seat, the white shoe he was removing popping off his foot and flying into the backseat. He grinned and pulled off Kaitou Kid's top hat and tossing it back to join the shoe as he pulled the monocle from his eye.

"Impersonate my brother?" Yuusaku answered, holding up the bit of glass and ivory that was his nephew's legacy. "Years, my love. _Years_." He laughed suddenly. "Pretty much every time Toichi got to thumb his nose at me in an overly flashy 'catch me if you can, big brother,' way. I'm sure Shinichi feels the same way about Kaito."

"Not that you'd ever get Shin-chan to admit it," Yukiko laughed merrily, dodging around a slower moving vehicle on the road. "Though I think Aoko-chan isn't going to be happy with us once she wakes up. Did you really need to drug the poor girl? She's practically family!"

"All in the name of believability, Yukiko! Watch the wall, dear. She hates Kid, and it's unlikely she would have been _chipper_ when he returned her to her father. If she's annoyed with me, so much the better. It makes her acting the part of the affronted kidnapped damsel easier."

"Mm. I suppose so," Yukiko said dubiously, then brightened. "So what next? Back home, or did you have something else in mind?"

Yuusaku unlatched Kid's white cape from his shoulders and brushed off the sleeves. "Well, the night is young," he said thoughtfully. "And we already have a babysitter for the boys. What would you say to dinner and somewhere with a dance floor?"

Yukiko's answering smile was brilliant, and accompanied by the screeching of the tires as she accelerated past all common sense.

.oOo.

Morning dawned on the Kudo house and an enterprising sunbeam worked its way into Shinichi's room through the curtains and ruthlessly pried at Kaito's eyelids. He turned over and found it was still glaring at him, reflected off the white wall and an ill-positioned closet mirror. He dragged a blanket over his head, trying to reclaim sleep until it grew too hot, and finally sighed in defeat. He sat up, scratching at his wild thatch of hair, making it poke up in all directions, and pulled his legs out from under the covers. He dropped bare feet to the floor, carefully avoiding Shinichi, who was sprawled out on a futon that had been dragged in the night before. Kaito had the bed, thanks to a mostly-healed gunshot wound.

Kaito latched onto the bed frame and used it to pull himself completely to his feet. He tugged the borrowed shirt he was wearing up and looked down at his chest, poking at shiny pink skin of new scar-tissue puckered in a starburst; and hissed in sudden pain that lanced through his chest down his arm. Pandora had healed him enough to keep him alive, but hadn't taken the injury completely away. It felt like he'd dislocated a few ribs at some point too, and the mottled bruising that wrapped around his torso didn't contradict that feeling.

Still, he was breathing, he was alive, and if he was very careful and sneaky – and avoided his mother at all costs – he could probably herd Shinichi out the door and be at school before they broke out the needles again. Haibara had looked positively fiendish in her glee to poke him full of holes the night before. She had said something about lacking baseline samples, and made off with several vials of blood.

Kaito scratched at his hair and picked his way across the room, hunting through drawers as quietly as he could. Shinichi slept on, curled in a ball at the very edge of his futon, the blanket he was using all but off. Kaito shifted his bundle of clothes to one arm and leaned down to straighten it, pulling it back up around the other boy's shoulders. Shinichi muttered something and turned over, curling into the new warmth.

Kaito stepped over him and continued on to the closet, dropping his bundle on the desk and easing out of his shirt. With a bit of difficulty, and more time than it had right to take, he was dressed and reaching back into the closet to retrieve Shinichi's school blazer, glancing at the glowing numbers of the bedside clock as he pulled it on. It was early, but he'd pulled much shorter nights after a few of his heists. Those usually ended in him and Hakuba both looking like coffee zombies in school the next day.

Speaking of … he shrugged and decided there was no reason he shouldn't get breakfast, or at least the coffee portion, started for everyone else. He left the bedroom and headed down to the kitchen, moving easily through the dark and sleeping house. The light in the kitchen was on and Kaito blinked as he walked in and stood at the door. His mother was sitting at the table, a mug cradled between her hands.

"Have you slept _at all_?" he asked, walking the rest of the way into the room and crossing to the half-filled pot to fill a mug and join her at the table. She looked up at him, taking a long drink from her cup and nodded.

"A little. I'll catch a nap later. Coincidentally, Ai is going to be too sick to go to school today."

"It's going well?" Kaito asked, dragging a chair out from under the table and sliding into it.

She smiled. "It should begin to go that well. You've provided us with a chance to watch the natural process before your phagocytes revert to their natural state."

Kaito lifted his mug and blew on steaming liquid before slurping up a mouthful and swallowing, waiting silently for the caffeine to hit his bloodstream before he nodded. "How many holes are you going to let your little vampiric partner poke in me while you watch my fago-whatsits sort themselves out?"

"Phagocytes," she corrected with a chuckle. "Such as the white blood cells in your immune system. They're responsible for absorbing and cleaning up foreign particles and dead or damaged cells in your body. Shinichi's – and yours as well – have been altered by Pandora. However, the cytokine trigger in yours will go dormant and be recycled by your system. Shinichi's stay active and that's why he and Ai don't grow."

Kaito blinked at that, hearing an implication he didn't like and cringing at his cousin's likely reaction to it. "_Don't_ grow? So Shinichi didn't just get reset and can't grow back out of this?"

"No," she answered simply, taking a surreally calm drink out of her mug and pretending to ignore the sudden Poker Face that slammed down over her son's face or the tensing hands wrapped around his mug. "He won't. He and Ai are frozen in homeostasis with an enhanced rate of mitosis to balance out the apoptosis until they are either cured, or something goes horribly wrong and the balance is upset. It's the nature of the apotoxin: they'll either be children forever, or die very abruptly."

"Does Shinichi know?" Kaito finally managed to ask, his voice coming out subdued and slightly strangled.

"I don't believe he's ever asked what could have happened if the apotoxin performed as expected, nor do I think he really cares how it works in himself. Autopsies look for the presence of elevated foreign chemicals, you know. That's why the apotoxin looks like a natural death and seems untraceable: it causes widespread apoptosis – natural, programmed cell death like when your skin cells die and shed off – until something important like the heart or liver fails."

Kaito swallowed and fisted his hand against the table, looking down at the whorls of stained wood under his mug. "Why didn't it?"

"We don't know." A moment later his mother pushed her half-empty coffee cup to the side and threaded her fingers together on the surface of the table. "But at an educated guess? Ai's notes said Shinichi first returned to his real age when he was ill and given alcohol by Hattori. Foreign invaders like a virus or bacteria distract the body's phagocytes from apoptosis as the infection is dealt with. The wine's second shock to Shinichi's system broke the apotoxin's homeostasis and aged him."

Kaito blinked from where he had slumped down, resting his chin on the table with his nose over the lip of his mug. "So … you're going to give Shinichi a flu shot and then startle his immune system and hope it sticks?"

His mother laughed softly and shook her head. "No. The immune system is made to be adaptable and I doubt it will work the same way twice. We need Shinichi's immune system to change and attack the altered phagocytes, and allow the enhanced cell growth to take care of aging him. There's no definitive trace of Pandora's Tears in my system and my immune system is normal. It's altered in Shinichi and Ai and in you. We have Pandora and the apotoxin. Once we know the connection, it should be possible."

"… No wonder you're not getting any sleep," Kaito said, a hint of excitement kindling in his eyes. "It sounds like you're close. Really close. And thank the kami, because Shinichi is about ready to claw his way out of Conan's skin and _I'm_ tired of dodging Mouri-san."

"Because you've only just patched things up with Aoko," his mother observed, earning a protesting squawk from her son. She smiled at the reaction and finished off her mug. "It will be another several days at the very least, even though we have your blood to work with as well now," she told him. "I've taken the elixir, and Haibara's taken the apotoxin, but neither of us have a genetic link to Shinichi. You do, and that, I think, will be the key to reversing it."

"The sooner the better," Kaito told her. "That heist … they're looking for me. We guessed that, but now I'm sure because the ones that started shooting weren't from anyone under Nakamori's command. It feels like we're living on borrowed time now."

"I don't think time was ever on our side to begin with," his mother said, eyes glinting with a unique mixture of pride and amused anticipation. "But time isn't on their side either. Pandora's Tears need to be taken regularly for them to extend life. That's one of the reasons the Organization has tried so hard to synthesize it, and I'm not sure how much their esteemed leader has left."

"So we can just hide it really well and hope he dies?" Kaito asked, brightening and grinning, causing his mother to laugh and shake her head.

"That would probably leave Vermouth in charge," she told him. "Or spark a very bloody power struggle. I doubt she and Gin get along any better than they used to. No dear, this hydra needs to be beheaded and the upper layers dismantled if our family wants any peace. They're the ones actually threatening us. Without them Kaitou Kid is just a flashy thief and Kudo Shinichi an annoying private detective."

"But it's personal as long as we have Pandora and Haibara-san," Kaito's clenched jaw softened and a thoughtful look overtook his expression.

His mother looked at him oddly for a moment before understanding relaxed her and she leaned forward, elbows propped comfortably on the table and hands together. "You have a plan?"

"No, not really."

.oOo.

Kaito waited until they were making the trek to school to tell Shinichi about the conversation with his mother. Shinichi slowed to a stop and stood looking up with a cautious - almost disbelieving - sort of hope. Kaito turned and backtracked the few steps he'd walked past, a slight frown tugging at his mouth. He'd never had a timetable before, Kaito realized. Probably hadn't even let himself think too deeply on the small progresses Ai made.

"Oi, chibi," Kaito prodded, reaching out and pulling on Shinichi's jacket and dragging him along. "Keep walking or we're going to be late."

"Keep walking?" Shinichi demanded, sounding half-strangled and digging in his heels until Kaito stopped again. "You're worried about school? And you think I'm going to manage to concentrate?"

"It's second grade," Kaito snorted with a roll of his eyes. "You don't need to concentrate. But you're going because otherwise you're going to take up residence under a lab table and drive everyone up the wall until the mad scientists kick you out and they'll make _me_ deal with you. You need a distraction."

"Second grade's not much of a distraction," Shinichi responded mulishly.

"Yeah, well I have it on good authority Haibara-chan's contagious and not up to visitors. Which I'm going to tell Mouri-san, and she's not going to want you to come down with it."

Shinichi growled at him, and ducked away as Kaito ruffled his hair and gave him a cheerful grin. "Trust me; you don't want to mess with my mom if she's working on something – that way lays madness and all that – but, if you want to focus that razor-sharp brain of yours, then think on this: if and when they crack this, you need to start thinking of how to put 'Conan' on a bus."

"Plane," Shinichi corrected still looking a bit surly, "Conan's family is in America." Then eyes narrowing in sudden thought and a smile tugged at his lips. "Leave it to you to start worrying about escape routes."

"You've never caught me," Kaito pointed out, stretch his arms out and folding them behind his head as he started walking again, and this time Shinichi followed. "Kept me on my toes, and put serious kinks into my performances, but you've never cornered me. I plan my crazy schemes before I go through with them. _You _have atendency to just make it up as you go and hope no one catches you out."

"You couldn't possibly know that," Shinichi deadpanned, still smiling. "And it's held up fine so far, even without _your_ tendency for multiple backdoors for every step of the way."

Kaito glanced down at him and grinned. "First rule of being a thief: Don't get caught. And you've come close a few times. Hattori and I have both had to bail you out; he's told me about it. Agasa probably has too, I'd guess."

Shinichi hitched his backpack more securely on his back and coughed. "Grateful as I am for that, you almost gave me heart failure every time you've 'helped' and showed up as Shinichi."

"Practice makes perfect," Kaito returned. "And see? Now you're distracted and not scheming how to break into the lab as soon as I'm stuck out of sight with Mouri-san."

"Well I wasn't before …" Shinichi groaned. "I think you're a bad influence."

Kaito choked back a laugh and shook his head. "I was watching you, tantei-kun. You didn't need my help in the slightest to dance in the shadows. You're as tenacious going after clues and evidence as I am going after gems and mop-chases."

Shinichi folded his arms and cast a sideward glare at the thief. "Yeah, well, I still think I'm going to need a different distraction than _school_."

"I guess you could go ring shopping," Kaito grinned, fully expecting Shinichi to explode into entertaining fidgets. A pensive, considering silence met his quip, and Kaito dropped his hands to his sides and looked at the other boy, who loped along beside him with a thoughtful set to his features. Kaito's eyes widened quickly. "Oi! I wasn't serious!"

"Yeah, but I think I am."

.oOo.

"Did you sneak out and find a ring?" Kaito asked, flopping backwards in a lanky sprawl along the bench beside his cousin. The unkempt gardens of the Kudo house surrounded them, reclaimed in patches by Yukiko's spurts of boredom. "Assuming you get all your shots caught up soon, think we'll be traveling to any exotic locations?"

Shinichi looked up at him with the trace of an amused smile ghosting over his face. "Personal or business? If it's personal, you're not invited. For the case … depends on what kind of travel itinerary dad manages to book."

Kaito arched an eyebrow and a slow, considering smile tugged at his lips. "You," he said, "are up to something. What is it?"

Shinichi stiffened at the question, causing the smile on Kaito's face to widen and Shinichi shot him a dark look, to find the teenager not looking at him, but staring across the road at Agasa's house, and flicking his attention up and down the street with a subdued sense of paranoia searching for anything out of place on the Kudo's manicured street. He wasn't the only one that was tense. "Trying not to pin too much hope on all of this in case it doesn't work."

"Except that you know it probably will," Kaito responded, the smile slipping from his face as he pulled himself out of his sprawl and turned more focused attention on the smaller boy beside him. "Mom and Ai-san seem to think it will. And if it doesn't, we're only a bit worse off than you were before." Hopefully. Kaito shoved the other possibilities out of his mind before they could worry him enough for Shinichi to notice. "So what's really got you freaked out?"

"I'm not freaked out!" Shinichi snapped, small hands tightening into the material of his trousers. A measuring silence answered him and Shinichi didn't have to look up to see Kaito watching him, waiting for him to break. "I'm not."

"Right," Kaito said, only a little slower than normal. "Well good, because I am." Shinichi's attention snapped up in disbelief at the frank confession. Kaito looked back with seriousness etched over his face. "Because we really don't know what we're doing next, do we?" Kaito shook his head before leaning back so he could watch the clouds drifting overhead in aimless billowy shapes. "Maybe I never thought I'd get this far. Or that it was just going to be a matter of nailing Snake to the wall for whatever it took, and doing my damndest to make sure at least one count was murder for dad's sake. It's gotten a bit bigger than that, though. We have Pandora, and there's a good chance you'll be back to tall soon, but nothing goes back to normal until we figure out how to take this target off our family's back.

Kaito twisted suddenly, hand arching behind himself and under the back of his shirt. "Ow! What's… oh." With a grunt he pulled Kid's cardgun from its concealed holster along his spine. Part of it rattled as he shook it and Kaito glared at the device sourly. "Damn, I knew we didn't get out of there unscathed. It must have taken a hit at Koizumi's little carnival of weird."

"From the ghost bullets?" Shinichi asked, shifting to peer at the strange weapon as Kaito poked at it, looking for loose bits.

"Ghost bullets that felt real enough to me, thanks," Kaito answered, a small screwdriver appearing in his hand with a subtle twist. He caught Shinichi's look of mild surprise and shrugged in explanation. "Field repairs. We're going to have to move fast if we want to avoid dodging the real thing, you know. That means turning Gin, Vodka, and the rest of the happy hour brigade over to the police and making sure they lock them up tight enough that they can't get out and come back after us. It's all great in theory. Really simple, we should have this wrapped up by morning, but there's this glaring problem in the theory, and it's that we don't know where these monsters are laired up and we can't just ask the nice townspeople like a video game. So, great detective, where do we start looking or how do we unlock the liquor cabinet?"

"I have contacts in the FBI," Shinichi told him, reaching up to pull his glasses off his face and stare at them where he held them in his lap. "There's a team here investigating the Organization, and they have an operative on the inside. We should get in touch with them and ask for help."

"The FBI?" Kaito questioned, looking up from the gadget he was tinkering with, pulling the screwdriver away and settling his wrist on his knee. "Since when do you have friends in the FBI?"

"Since they were looking for and following the same leads on the Organization I was. I think we should tell them. They'll help if we introduce Shinichi to them before sending Conan home."

"You are starting to refer to yourself in the third person," Kaito pointed out, setting screwdriver and gadget aside before leaning forward in his chair and lacing his fingers together between his knees. "Don't do that around Mouri-san, or she's going to haul you into child counseling and they'll blame your parents because you're cracked."

Shinichi snorted. "Not going to be an issue soon."

"Mm." Kaito sounded noncommittal, but nodded. "It's not, but your plan of going to the FBI with this is. It's not worth the risk."

"Risk?" Shinichi demanded, taken back at Kaito's off-hand dismissal. "What risk? And why not? They're the perfect …"

"Shinichi," Kaito started, dropping his face down and covering his eyes with one hand. "You _can't_ bring the FBI in on this, okay? Even if they just think they're working with Kudo Shinichi, detective, and his unorthodox CI. And I'm really surprised you don't see what risk I'm talking about."

"They've been hunting the Organization longer than we have. Why shouldn't we use any official backing we've got?"

"Because, detective, while you might be totally okay with the law and order types in this world, you're forgetting something that's going to make everyone else twitchy: theft, forgery, illicit medical research, and who knows what else, are illegal. And your official backing is double-edged." Kaito shifted and pointed a thumb at himself condemningly. "I'm a felon. So is my _mother_ and _your_ father. Your family is a bunch of criminals, you yourself are an accomplice at the very least, and none of us are interested in working out a plea bargain with an American agency only to be tried here in Japan for various crimes against society."

Shinichi face wrinkled into a scowl at the reminder and he shook his head. "We can't handle this on our own."

"Why not?" Kaito challenged as a familiar lopsided smirk ghosting across his mouth as his unruly hair shadowed his eyes. "We've _been_ handling it on our own, and we're finally making progress. Everything's set, Shinichi, we just need to invite them out to play and take out the ones that are directly threatening us. As for the sanctioned authorities … they can't move fast enough to set this up before the Organization's spies tip them off. _We_ have to see it through. Together."

"We can't make arrests," Shinichi pointed out, sounding reasonable even as he sat tensed and his small hands clenched at the seat of the bench beneath them. "And I know you're not interested in just assassinating them. It's never been about that for you or you wouldn't have made such a big production about having the police at every heist you thought might amount to anything. You want them arrested too."

Kaito agreed with a nod. "You're right, I do. But I really don't want to get arrested at the end of this either. I have my way, and the both of us are going to vanish before the police show up and any covers but the Organization's can be blown. Between what your dad has gathered and what they already know, it should be enough to hold them if we can pin them down for a while. If Nakamori, or Megure, or your FBI lot can get them behind bars, they'll have plenty of reason to keep him there. We just need to help get them there because I don't think anyone else can track them down, draw them out of hiding, and survive getting their attention. You and I have the best track record there."

"Which is really, really sad when I think about it." Shinichi slumped backwards against the wood. "Breaking that record means we die."

"Yeah, well, they say I can escape from anywhere." Kaito rolled to his feet and stuffed his hands into his jeans' pockets. "Don't know if that's true or not, but Lupin could do it. And Holmes proved unkillable at Reichenbach falls."

Shinichi scooted forward until he could drop to the ground and looked up at the taller boy, something almost like amusement playing across his face. "The adventures of two literary characters don't give us script immunity, Kaito."

"Doesn't have to," Kaito said, speaking over his shoulder as he started making his way back towards door to the house. "Just gives us something to shoot for."

.oOo.

Kaito entered the house first, stepping into the enclosed space beyond the door with instinctive wariness and leaving Shinichi to pull the door shut behind them as he slipped off his shoes. They heard muted voices coming from upstairs, which they both turned towards before ignoring them in favor of continuing on to the kitchen.

Both were used to marking anything out of place in a familiar room, and almost immediately spied a sheet of notebook paper that sat conspicuously in the middle of the table, waiting for them. Two simple words in Kuroba Chikage's handwriting scrawled across the white paper: _It's finished_. It was followed by another more curvy and whimsical handwriting with a note that said: _In the library, with the candlestick._

Both stared at it, then at each other for a full minute, before Shinichi's eyes widened behind Conan's glasses and Kaito let out an excited whoop, grabbed Shinichi by the arm and dashed further into the house, hauling him along out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. "Mom!" he called, releasing his grip on Shinichi's arm as Shinichi yanked to be let go and leaving him to scramble up the stairs at his side.

The voices they had heard when they entered the house quieted at Kaito's shout, and the two burst into the upstairs library to find their parents, Ai, and Agasa staring at them with varying looks of amusement. "I see you found the note," Chikage said, moving around the chair she had been standing behind and coming closer to them.

"It's finished?" Shinichi asked, noticeably struggling to keep his tone relatively neutral and still bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet.

"Yes," she answered. "But there's quite a bit of preparatory work to be done yet. You won't be cured by bedtime, I'm afraid."

Shinichi stilled and swallowed heavily, tensing in preparation before he asked, "How long?"

"Roughly a week," Ai answered, chiming in as she joined her fellow scientist and folded her arms with an almost imperceptible smile. "We have equipment to set up and a room to convert for the procedure. That should give you plenty of time to tie up anything you need to so that Conan can vanish without too much trouble for the rest of us."

"And it will keep your mother busy, Shinichi," Yuusaku added.

Yukiko's expression darkened and she reached out to swat her husband on the arm. "I'm _worried_ about my baby and my nephew, Yuusaku. This whole thing doesn't seem very safe, and Chikage-chan would have checked them into a hospital for it if she could have!"

Surprised blinks met her announcement and finally, Kaito hazarded, "Hospital?"

"Your blood is infected with the apotoxin," Chikage told them, clasping her hands behind her back in a vaguely lecturing pose. "Most blood cells don't have a long lifespan, and your body replaces them constantly. To solve the problem, we'll need to alter your blood at its source. It's similar to a bone marrow transplant, which would usually involve checking into a hospital and a week's preparation of chemotherapy for Shinichi to kill his bone marrow, suppress his immune system, and make utterly sure he's squeaky clean to give the donated bone marrow a chance to take hold and grow without letting him catch anything infectious.

"You don't have cancer, so there's no need of a full chemotherapy regimen, other than repressing your current immune system, which Pandora does very effectively on its own. The temporary cure will suppress your immune system enough to revert to your real age. Once that happens, we'll hook up a solution of treated bone marrow that will replenish your own bone marrow as your cells are busy rebuilding to catch up with the change in size. If everything goes well, and Pandora acts as possessively aggressive as it usually does, it will take over and grow to replace the bone marrow infected by the apotoxin. Your blood will fully recycle itself in about eight hours, and you'll be cured."

Silence reigned for a long moment after she finished speaking, and an expectant, heavy pause held them until Kaito spoke and broke it.

"Or this will kill you." Kaito swallowed and looked down to where Shinichi stood beside him. "As the room's token adrenalin addict, I'm going to point out it could definitely kill you."

"I don't care," Shinichi responded. "This is worth the risk. When can we start?" He looked to the adults questioningly.

"In a few days. It would be easiest to do this over the weekend, and give you a day to recuperate."

"Afterwards," Yuusaku chimed in sternly, "I think you should _both_ lie low and stay out of sight as much as possible. Even if they're not looking actively for you, Shinichi, they are probably still looking for Kaito. You've vanished for months on end before without too much suspicion; a final short absence won't worry anyone but Ran."

Shinichi folded his arms across his chest and a slow smile crept its way across his lips. "Don't worry, Dad. I'll think of something to reassure Ran, and we'll wrap this case up so she won't have to get upset or suspicious."

"You are awfully confident for someone without a plan," Kaito drawled, looking downward pointedly at his diminutive cousin. Shinichi turned his head and a brilliant Conan-like smile brightened his face.

"Who says I don't have a plan?"

* * *

**Kat's Notes:** So ... the rumors of my demise and/or abandonment have been a bit exaggerated. I really apologize. I doing a second copy edit of a book for another author and had to rush through it so she could be ready for her publisher. It took a while since that novel and Gambit are very different in terms of writing style, characters, and world. Done now. Back to my own projects! This being foremost and maybe a short Kenshin fic or ... um ... six.

Next time! Hakuba puts a few things together, the mad scientists try to fix phagocytes, and Yukiko gets to put on another performance. There is something about this story and people pretending to be other people...


	13. Pretend There's Nothing Wrong

**Disclaimer:** See Kat waving vaguely in the direction of chapter 1.

**AN's**: This is the fic that doesn't end … Seriously, this is the longest chapter I've ever written for any fic, ever. This is also the closest I will probably ever come to writing Ran/Kaito fic.

This is one of the chapters that has been modified heavily in the edit. Most of the time, I've just adjusted formatting and cleaned up some of the writing. This one has all new stuff at the bottom. Like, the latter half of the chapter.

* * *

.: **Chapter 13 - Pretend There's Nothing Wrong **:.**  
**

_"Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other,it's one day closer to the next time you will." _

_~ Author Unknown ~_

.oOo.

A knock sounded on the doorframe beside the half-open door pulled Kaito's attention from the chemistry book he was lazily making his way through. His mother pushed the door further open and stepped inside. Her expression, half lit by the hallway light and the dim glow of the desk lamp, was serious, and her hair was pulled back severely from her face. The white lab coat she had taken to wearing while working with Ai was still hanging loose over her normal clothes rather than folded over her arm like it usually was when she emerged from the laboratory at night.

Kaito dropped a pen in the spine of his book and pushed his chair away from the desk so he could turn and waited for her to step into the room and close the door behind her. "This is about Shinichi, isn't it?" he said, voice subdued by the steady look his mother was watching him with. "The transplant?"

She nodded in acknowledgement. "I need to know how much you're willing to do to help him; without your cousin standing next to you looking up at you expectantly."

"Anything that won't make Aoko cry," he answered instantly before a wry smile tinted his lips and eyes. "Even without this whole mess with the Organization, I'd want to keep my favorite critic around and healthy. What did you find that you're asking me this, mom?"

Chikage returned his smile half-way and stepped past him to sit on the edge of the bead. "That this will be vastly unpleasant for you. We've modified Pandora's Tears to stabilize what the apotoxin did to your cousin, but we'll need to do something drastic to Shinichi's body to prevent it from reverting after the initial cure wears off. Since the problem is in his phagocytes, he'll need a bone marrow transplant. Your blood types match and, unsurprisingly, you two are a good match to avoid rejection – we already checked with the blood samples Ai took from you earlier."

"I'll do it," Kaito said, before pausing and deflating a bit with a long-suffering sigh. "Even if it means more needles."

"A very big needle," his mother agreed unrepentantly, smile widening as her son twitched and hunched in on himself.

"Haibara's probably looking forward to this."

.oOo.

Footsteps approached, sneaker-clad feet nearly-silent against the sidewalk's concrete. Shinichi didn't look up, but recognized the light steps, and some part of him knew he couldn't dismiss the sense of familiarity in the approach with the excuse of a didactic memory. The footsteps stopped right beside him and Kaito's lanky form stepped into Shinichi's peripheral vision. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Kaito asked again, straightening from his normal, lanky half-slouch to mirror Shinichi's better posture and stiffer walk as they approached the Mouri detective agency. "This _is_ passing the point of no return and all that."

Shinichi spared him a look and nodded, anticipation brightening his eyes and adding a bounce to his step that made him really look his age. "I'm more than ready. I want to go home."

"Glad one of us is," Kaito grumbled. "It's tonight, you know. More sharp and pointy objects wielded by the mad scientists. It's a really big needle. Have you seen the thing? And they're planning to stick it into my _bones_ to get enough marrow out to fix yours."

"You could still back out," Shinichi reminded him, keeping a tight hold on any taint of reluctance or encroaching disappointment coloring his voice.

Kaito looked at him, frowning for a moment before his expression softened and he reached sideways to ruffle his cousin's hair, smirking at Shinichi's squawk of protest. "No, I can't. I pretty much sealed my fate when I started impersonating you. Besides, your mom's already made the call to Mouri-san and we should leave soon before she comes looking for you. Me. Me pretending to be you. And you pretending to be you." Kaito rolled his eyes. "This is the most screwed up impersonation ever done."

"At least it's almost over," Shinichi reminded him.

"And Mouri-san's going to cry over this," Kaito continued, looking equal parts resigned and thoughtful and completely ignoring Shinichi in the process. "So I can't even back out of that part. You're her boyfriend now, right? You'd be a pretty pathetic boyfriend if you didn't pull comfort duty after this stunt."

"Depends on what that 'comfort duty' is," Shinichi said, eyeing Kaito suspiciously and conspicuously not denying the boyfriend label.

Kaito blinked, looked down, and raised his hands defensively and waved his cousin's suspicion off. "Absolutely nothing that will get me in trouble with Aoko. Anything like _that_, you'll have to do yourself once you're back to normal … or at least tall again." Shinichi aimed a kick at Kaito's knee, but the thief pulled it out of the way carelessly and rose to his feet. Shinichi slid off the seat beside him and dropped to the ground as well.

"Let's go say goodbye to Ran-nee-chan, Shinichi-nii-san," Conan chirped, the mask of a small child sliding seamlessly over the serious visage of the teenage detective and outwardly banishing the tense anticipation that Shinichi all but vibrated with the closer they came to finding the key to unlocking his strange prison. Kaito raises an eyebrow at the smaller boy's antics and the phantom thief's grin flashed across his face.

"Lead on, Holmes. Your game's afoot."

.oOo.

Ran was waiting for them, jerking the door open and almost off its hinges the moment Kaito started twisting the knob. Kaito jumped back a step, startled, and Shinichi yelped as he found himself swept into Ran's arms.

"I … um … Ran-nee-chan," he squeaked, struggling to pull air into his lungs and mostly failing. Kaito let them carry on for a few minutes before clearing his throat and sidling past the distraught girl.

"I'm glad you don't have any neighbors up here, Ran," Kaito said, leaning down to gently grab her shoulders and pull her into the apartment with him. Ran didn't relinquish her grip on Shinichi and Kaito found himself dragged along and up as she stood. He took a bit of comfort in the fact that she wouldn't be able to scoop him up and manhandle him quite so easily soon, but not much comfort when he caught the look on Kaito's face, and the amused smirk that was threatening to break though the resigned concern.

"Edogawa-san called," Ran said, tears choking her voice a bit.

Kaito nodded. "She rang the house after she talked to you. I guess you told her where Conan-kun was hiding."

Shinichi squirmed out of Ran's arms and dropped to the floor with a soft thud. Bereft of child to hug, Ran wrapped her arms around herself and Kaito hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and pulling her into his. She was taking it hard, which he'd expected, but he still wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about it. A stray thought skittered across his imagination, and Kaito latched onto it before taking a breath and speaking.

"The truth is that Conan's grandfather is very ill, Ran," Kaito said, casting a warning glance in Shinichi's direction to keep him quiet and get him to play along. "That's why he's been here in Japan instead of with his relatives in the States – they couldn't handle a seven-year-old on top of everything else. Edogawa-san is in the hospital right now for a bone marrow transplant, but the doctors aren't very hopeful it will help much. If Conan doesn't go now, he might not get a chance to see him."

Ran wrapped her arms around Kaito's chest and buried her face into his shoulder. Kaito stiffened. He could feel a pair of eyes glaring at him and he muffled the urge to untangle himself from the girl long enough to thump his cousin. This was not his fault!

'_Just pretend it's Aoko,'_ he told himself, loosening up enough hug the distraught young woman back. An image of what he would probably be doing if it was actually Aoko flashed through Kaito's mind and he blushed. _'Okay,_ don't_ pretend it's Aoko. Pretend it's your cousin's girlfriend and you're the only available set of arms that doesn't top out at her waist.'_

"Ran-neechan," Shinichi said, stepping forward and fisting his hands in the sides of his shirt. Ran pulled away from Kaito and leaned over to pull the small boy into a crushing hug, scooping him up until he was almost eyelevel with the other two.

"I'm going to miss you," she sniffled, "so much. You have to call and write. More often than Shinichi did, okay? I want to know how you're doing and about your new friends."

Kaito felt a queasy sense of unease settle through him and edged backwards a step.

"Can …" Shinichi pried himself away from her enough to breathe and tapped her cheek with one hand. Ran stilled and blinked at him, closing her mouth with a soft intake of breath. "Can you tell the others goodbye for me?" he asked. "Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi? The plane's leaving early in the morning, so I won't get a chance to."

"I… of course I will, Conan-kun," she told him, squeezing him tighter before finally putting him back down. "I'm sure they'll want to hear from you too."

"Thank you, Ran-neechan." He glanced towards Kaito, and found himself being regarded with a considering, but carefully neutral, expression. Looking away and back to Ran he muttered something about packing. It shook Ran out of her funk and she shook herself.

"I have most of your things already packed in a box for you, Conan-kun," Ran told him, trailing the boy out of the room and leaving Kaito behind when he didn't follow. "Your mother said you wouldn't have much time for goodbyes, and I didn't want you to forget anything."

Their voices trailed down the hall, and Kaito let out a deep breath and slumped down into a nearby armchair. Ran's father wasn't around to yell at him for it, and he needed a moment to think. It was starting up again, he realized. Shinichi was coming back from being a wraith of phone calls and brief appearances only to set _Conan_ up as the phantom loved one.

Not that he thought it would be as difficult on them, but Ran was just going to trade one bout of lonely heartache and worry over a missing detective for another. It would be even worse if they arranged for Conan's death. It would crush Ran _and_ those kids that followed him around everywhere. But she'd never know the whole story unless Shinichi told her. Kaito doubted he'd have a lot of luck convincing Shinichi to do that.

A knock at the door startled Kaito out of his thoughts, and he pushed himself out of the armchair to answer it. One hand slid casually behind his back to where Kid's cardgun sat holstered under his clothes. Ignoring the peephole, and the eyeshot it could all too easily provide, Kaito unlocked the door from the side, swinging it open and staying out of the line of immediate fire. It would look like he was giving their guest plenty of room to walk in and remove his or her shoes, making him appear the polite host, instead of a paranoid teenager.

The plump form of Kudo Yukiko as Edogawa Fumiyo bustled in and gave Kaito a chipper bow. "Ah, Shinichi-kun! Since you're here, I assume you brought Conan to get his things and say goodbye."

"Good afternoon, Edogawa-san," Kaito returned her bow politely, smothering a grin at the fun his aunt was clearly having being 'in character.' "Ran and your son are probably just grabbing a few last minute things.

"I suppose we'll have to recruit you to help carry all of it down to the care," she said, tapping her double-chin in mischievous thought. "So nice of you to be available to volunteer!"

Kaito sighed and rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not sure why you're bothering to haul all of this stuff back, oba-san. It's not like any of this stuff is going to fit him soon anyway. The shrimp's due for a growth spurt at some point in the near future."

"So Ran doesn't have to deal with sorting out what to keep and what not to keep, of course," she answered as Ran walked out carrying a box in her arms, with Shinichi trailing just behind and lugging a much smaller box. Kaito stepped forward immediately and held out his arms to Ran.

"Here, I've got it. Make sure Conan-kun didn't forget anything, will you, Ran?"

.oOo.

Once packed and stowed in the car, Shinichi allowed himself to be swept up into another tearful, sniffly, hug, returning it without squirming, even if Kaito could see the subtle guilty tension in the other boy's frame. Kaito glanced toward his aunt, wondering if she had noticed, and found her watching the two with an odd expression caught somewhere between calculating and amused.

Eventually, Ran put Shinichi down and pushed him lightly towards the car, before stepping back to Kaito and grabbing his hand. Kaito squeezed her hand back as reassuringly as he could and waved at the Edogawas as they pulled away into traffic. The two stood there watching until the car turned a corner out of sight, and Ran dropped her hand slowly, looking dejected.

"I'm taking you out this Saturday," he told her suddenly, willing a hesitant grin onto his face. Saturday was a few days away; long enough that it would actually be Shinichi taking her. Shinichi would probably thank him for this, even if the nice dinner was one served in the Kudo dining room with a CD player instead of an orchestra. "Wear something nice, okay? And we'll see if there's any news about Conan, if you want."

Ran blinked at him before a small smile brightened her eyes, even if they didn't lighten enough to say he'd completely cheered her up, and she leaned up to fondly kiss his cheek. Kaito stiffened in surprise and she laughed softly. "You're sweet, Shinichi. And I know this is what's best for him, even if I'll miss him too. Thank you for caring. You're a lot different since you came back, you know."

"Different?" Kaito almost squeaked. "Um … are you sure? Because I'm still me and all and …" he stilled as he found her fingers touching his lips and she gave him a reassuring smile.

"A good different," she said firmly. "You're chasing after mysteries, but you're not ignoring everyone else to do it. You were always really wonderful with Conan. And you haven't talked my ear off about Sherlock Holmes as much either."

Which was bad, Kaito berated himself silently. He considered Ran his friend – his friend as _Kaito_, not his girlfriend as Shinichi's impersonator - but that meant it was far too easy to be more himself and less the detective around her. That was a very bad thing if Shinichi couldn't keep up the act because it wasn't supposed to _be_ an act. He was slipping, and Ran had caught it, even if she didn't realize she'd caught it.

"Well, I've been busy, and Conan's a great kid, and … um …" he trailed off lamely, and found Ran still laughing silently at him. "Should I apologize for acting strange, or just promise to never get so obsessive ever again?" Kaito rubbed ruefully at the back of his neck and grinned at her. Though he firmly thought Shinichi _wouldn't_ go back to his oblivious glory hound ways. He would be around to make sure of it, after all.

Ran laughed softly, her sadness withdrawing, and hugged him. "Just be you."

Kaito kept the mask of Shinichi up by pure force of will and nodded, returning her hug. "Be me. Right."

.oOo.

He stayed with her for a while before quietly excusing himself. Ran watched him go, but didn't stop him from leaving. He was more upset by Conan's leaving than he wanted her to know; probably more than he himself realized, the dork. She saw him stuff his hands into his pockets from the apartment's window and walk off towards home, staying there until Shinichi turned a corner and stepped out of sight.

She felt slightly sad that he didn't seem comfortable sharing the sadness of Conan's departure with her, she realized, as she turned towards her room to start her homework. The apartment felt strangely hollow without the anticipation of Conan's presence, the brilliant little boy who trailed after mysteries and soccer balls with equal excitement and zeal.

And she had been honest when she'd told Shinichi that she would miss Conan, even if the little boy had obviously been beside himself with happiness at the idea of going home. Some part of her was hurt at that Conan might not miss her as much as she would miss him, but she was paradoxically glad that the separation wouldn't be too difficult for him. She hadn't even realized he was so homesick before, though she had caught him looking frustrated and sad on occasions he didn't realize she was watching. He invariably perked up the moment he noticed her presence.

He was a lot like Shinichi in that … in a lot of ways, really. She had entertained a suspicion Conan _was_ Shinichi for months, and tried to find some way to prove it one way or the other before deciding if Conan inexplicably was a seventeen year old detective in a seven year old's body, and he _hadn't_ told her, she would be content to wait for him to admit it. Whatever reason he had for the deception would be a good one, and in the meantime she owed Shinichi her trust.

The possibilities her mind had spun for the whole situation frightened her, and she wasn't ashamed to admit that in the privacy of her own heart. She had been immeasurably relieved when Shinichi had joined her on that walk to school, strolling up as though he hadn't been gone for months, and greeting her and her young charge. Seeing them both standing there, in the morning light, meant Shinichi wasn't Conan, and neither of them were wrapped up in anything more dangerous than their usual criminal-chasing. Even if Shinichi was apparently still working on whatever case had kept him away for almost a year, it couldn't be as cloak-and-dagger as her imagination had painted for her now that he was allowed to consult on it and lead his normal life as well.

And he was taking her out on Saturday. Ran's mind flitted to Shinichi's request that she wear something nice, and she felt an anticipatory blush creeping over her face. The last time he'd asked that, he had taken her to the same restaurant where his father had proposed. He had suspected Shinichi had something similar in mind, as it was just the sort of parallel he liked. If this was going to be a continuation of _that_, she would have to dress nicely indeed. And hope there were fewer dead bodies involved this time. She wondered if she could find a charm lucky enough to counteract Shinichi's tendency to find murders wherever he went.

.oOo.

The Kudo house was quiet. A murmur of voices filtered up from the lowest level as Kaito pulled the door open and slipped his shoes off in the entry way, and ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up and destroying the military-tame precision of Shinichi's hairstyle.

Shinichi and his mother had arrived long before, traveling much faster in the car than he did on foot. Ran, he knew, would leave him alone until later, giving him space of his own to "say goodbye to Conan," even if she didn't know that goodbye would take place in the sterile room Agasa, Ai, and his mother had set up in the Kudo's basement.

As he drifted down the stairs, Kaito's mouth thinned and he shoved his hands in his pockets. He could hear Shinichi's high voice carrying from further inside, bright with excitement, and Kaito found himself torn between agreeing with that bubble of anticipation, and tensing with dread. For all Shinichi made a career out of tripping over murderers and thieves, Kaito was the one that threw himself off buildings, and played tag with pursuing police and gunmen. He was more than nodding acquaintances with risk, and everything coming had him on high alert with adrenaline.

Several things were bothering him, and at least one of them had to be brought up before Shinichi said goodbye to Conan forever. Kaito shoved the thought back, leaving it to lurk just behind his immediate attention as he pushed the door open to the newly-christened medical room. Ai and his mother worked against one wall, pulling bags of clear and amber liquid and several pints of blood out and hanging them from an IV tree. Kaito rubbed at the insides of his elbows in memory of where that blood and at least some parts of the amber liquid had initially come from.

The others looked up at his entrance and he received an acknowledging nod from Haibara and a welcoming smile from his mother. Kaito grinned back at her and drifted over to stand near Shinichi, who was watching with interest and unconcealed anticipation.

"Almost time," Kaito said, nodding towards the activity on the other side of the room. "I guess I have to be here in case you need more blood."

The two watched as Kaito's mother adjusted a bag of clear liquid she had suspended from a rolling IV tree and hooked it up to an infusion pump. "There is a lot of medical equipment you and Haibara-san have squirreled away in here, mom," Kaito noted, leaning against the wall in a deceptively relaxed slouch as his eyes scanned over the monitors and cords and tubes that had been unpacked and strung about in a sort of merry chaos.

"Ideally, we would have checked Shinichi-kun into a hospital," she agreed with a nod. "We're going to slow down the change and intravenously feed in a combination of the modified toxin and Kaito's bone marrow. It will take longer, but it will be permanent. It will also be less taxing on your heart, Shinichi, as it won't be in danger of stuttering out from lack of blood to cycle."

Haibara brushed past him, shoving an armful of cloth into his arms before continuing on toward the equipment surrounding the bed. "You're in less danger than any of the times you took the temporary cure," she said, not looking at him to keep most of her attention on the bag of pale red bone marrow she was attaching to the IV tree.

"I think that's your cue to go get changed," Kaito offered, nodding towards a screen that had been set up to block in one corner of the room, with a chair sitting next to it. Shinichi loosened his grip on the bundle that had been shoved into his arms and held it away from himself. The cloth bundle unraveled into a hospital gown, trailing blue and white fabric from his upheld hands to the smooth floor beneath his feet. It was far too big to fit Conan without causing the eight-year-old to look like he was drowning in piles of fabric, but it would be nearly the right size for a tall and lanky teenager.

Shinichi took a deep breath and dropped his arms, folding the hospital gown over his arm twice to make sure it did not drag along the ground as he walked and stepped behind the changing screen. Behind it, he found an end table that had been dragged in from the hall, and gave him a somewhere to put his clothes. As he pulled his shirt over his head, he folded it neatly and couldn't help a thrill of excited trepidation. He wouldn't wear these clothes after this - he wouldn't wear _Conan_ after this. And that left him with an odd feeling of nostalgia.

Kaito's shadow passed in front of the screen, and Shinichi heard the chair outside it squeak in protest as Kaito threw his weight into it. "Shinichi," Kaito said, voice pitched quiet enough that the others on the other side of the room would have a difficult time hearing him. Shinichi looked towards the voice, stiffening with a premonition that he didn't like the tone of Kaito's voice and probably wouldn't like whatever the other boy was clearly trying to keep between them and not announce to the rest of the room. "You've got to tell her. Even if it's not as Conan, you need to come clean with Ran."

Shinichi pinched the bridge of his nose, glad his hand no longer had to push aside too-large glasses to do it and wondered what had brought _this_ on as he answered, "No." Shinichi folded his arms in a flash of irritation. "Kaito, I don't _have _to tell her! Conan can just 'go home to America' with his parents, and she never has to know. It's safer this way."

"Safer?!" The screen rattled as Kaito shoved it aside and stared at him, then threw up his hands dramatically. "She's going to find out! Somehow, eventually, she's going to find out. Ran's a smart girl, and I've no idea how you've managed to keep this up this long, except she didn't want to draw the insane conclusion it would take to figure out the truth. But she is going to find out, and then she's going to _kill you_, and _I'll_ have to solve your murder! But I won't do it! I'm going to let her walk! And I'll make sure Hattori doesn't solve it either. I can just tie him up somewhere and get rid of the evidence so she won't kill me for helping you!"

"Aoko would turn you in," Shinichi pointed out, rolling his eyes at Kaito's antics.

"Aoko might turn me in yet. That's not off the table, as she is happy to inform me.

"Is that what this is about?" Shinichi asked, folding his arms in a flash of irritation. "You got caught and _had_ to tell Aoko. You weren't planning on telling her anything, and she's not a black belt in karate! I'm sending Conan home and coming back as myself without telling her."

"Shinichi…" Kaito started, but found himself cut off by his cousin's raised hand.

Shinichi took a deep breath and dropped his hand before. "It's my choice. And I know you won't tell her behind my back; you value secrets too much for that. So I'm not going to tell Ran about Conan, and, I'm going to ask her to marry me."

"Right before we go after the Black Organization?" Kaito asked, raising an eyebrow over the intelligence of _that_ plan. "And you're right, I won't go behind your back – even if I think you're being an _idiot_ – but we might not come back from this." There, he thought, he'd said it. The bugbear neither of them wanted to acknowledge was in the open.

"That's why I'm doing this, Kaito," Shinichi said to him. "Just because you're not telling Aoko how _you_ feel doesn't mean I'm going to make the same mistake with Ran. If we don't come back from this, she's at least going to know."

Silence crashed over them, and Kaito stared at Shinichi. Shinichi glared back, refusing to back down or shrink from the stillness of the usually-hyperkinetic thief and wishing this had all blown up later, when he could at least look at the other boy eye to eye, and sock him in the jaw if needed.

Kaito held the silence for several more breaths before he took a step back turned away. "Then just don't ask her for a few days, okay? We have to go after Gin soon, but you need time to readjust. We won't have a lot of time once you're you again, but we should have that."

"You're up to something," Shinichi stated suspiciously. Kaito didn't turn, but offered a shrug. "Kaito, I swear to you, if you mess this up for me, even a little, I'm going to let you have it with a soccer ball, shoes on full, and I'm not going to aim for your monocle."

"I'm not planning to mess _anything_ up for you. I'm going to go call Heiji and force him to get up here so when someone randomly drops dead during the middle of your grand proposal, _you_ can ignore it and let _him_ solve the mystery."

"Kaito, what makes you certain someone's going to die as soon as I go anywhere with Ran?"

"Because it happens whenever you go anywhere?" Kaito answered. "It happened the last time you tried to ask her to marry you? You are a bloody corpse and impossible murder magnet?"

"You're paranoid, Kaito."

"Damn straight, Shinichi."

* * *

**Kat's Notes**: I've had one person kind of miffed with me because Shinichi isn't planning on telling Ran the truth. He doesn't. But that doesn't mean things will go according to his plans. Authors roll cosmic dice when characters make plans. Maybe she'll find out anyway. Maybe she won't. Future chapters will tell. It's kind of like maybe they'll run into future cameos. And maybe they won't.


	14. Weird Science

**Kat's Notes: **I have only one thing to say here. To the "annoyed reader" last chapter on March 21st: You're a dick. To everyone else: You are awesome and win and I love you.

If you just clicked on this chapter from an alert, I suggest rereading Chapter 13. I've been doing some editing – mostly for formatting glitches – and decided to expand that chapter. About the last half of it is new stuff.

On with the show!

* * *

.:** Chapter 14 - Weird Science** :.

_The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny..."_

_~ Isaac Asimov ~_**  
**

.oOo.

The pervasive scent of plastic and antiseptic centered around the far side of the room near the waiting hospital bed. Kaito followed Shinichi towards it, idly snatching things as they walked and fidgeting with them until the fidgeting resolved into absent minded juggling – a plastic cup, a box of latex gloves, a forgotten bit of a blunted syringe, and a pink rubber ball Shinichi recognized as Ayumi's.

Kaito's mother reached out and snatched the box of gloves from his juggling pattern, disrupting it enough to catch his attention, if not stop its movement completely. The other objects shifted out of sight or to other surfaces as he touched them. When they were gone, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth instead until his mother wrapped an arm around him, giving him a brief hug. Kaito took a breath and let himself lean into the silently-offered comfort before straightening.

A pale blue plastic box concealing a capped needle and loops of clear, thin tubing lay coiled on a wheeling table that had been moved to wait beside the elevated bed. Shinichi ignored it and clambered up onto the mattress, pulling the extra length of the hospital gown straight before settling back. His aunt unfolded a thin blanket from the bottom of the bed and pulled it up around Shinichi's waist. Shinichi picked at the ends of the blanket, tensing and then taking a deliberate breath as Kaito moved forward to help wrap padded straps loosely across Shinichi's waist, legs, and chest.

"Oba-san?" Shinichi hazarded, sounding only slightly concerned with the restraints, "why are you strapping me to the bed?"

"Largely so you don't roll off it and damage yourself or the equipment," his aunt answered, continuing her prep work and glancing to the side as Ai stepped up to the bedside with a brisk, businesslike air. "The procedure is likely to be quite painful."

Shinichi swallowed, fighting with a frisson of nervous anticipation. "Worse than the temporary cure?" He caught Kaito's sudden questioning look and shrugged in forced nonchalance. "Every time I've been shrunk or grown because of this has hurt like I'm dying."

"Likely because it was trying to kill you," Ai said dryly. "Death is rarely painless."

"You'll be unconscious for most of it," his aunt added with a slight frown directed at Ai as she adjusted an IV bag next to his bed, and connecting it to the waiting tubing that sat on the bedside table. "Though I'm afraid the parts you aren't will be uncomfortable. We don't know enough of Pandora's reactions with typical painkillers to chance mixing them."

"High level painkillers are also monitored more closely than common medical supplies like saline solution for an intravenous drip." She pulled on her own set of gloves before picking up the waiting needle, and pulling off the cap.

Chikage picked up Shinichi's hand and wrapped a blood-pressure cuff around his arm, inflating it before clamping the tube so the cuff could not deflate and checking her nephew's pulse. Within a few seconds, she located a vein and disinfected the area with a dark yellow swab of iodine. Shinichi winced as the slender needle slid through his skin and into the vein.

"We're using a regular saline solution to ease the strain on your body during the change and provide extra fluids. The less your body needs to reconstruct after the antidote is administered, the easier it will be on him. The full antidote will be injected with Kaito's bone marrow through your IV immediately after you return to your larger self. Your circulatory system will take care of depositing it where it needs to go. The entire aim of this is to give the modified bone marrow the best chance to grow and replace the bone marrow before the apotoxin is able to force your cells to revert to a state of apoptic necrosis. We will also be giving you a few pints of Kaito's blood once you're back to normal to help everything along. Normally, it would take a week or two for your blood supply to fully replace itself. But, this poison is tenacious and highly adaptable. We'll know if we succeeded or failed within twenty-four hours."

"I designed an excellent poison," Ai said, her face inscrutable, but avoiding eye contact with the others in the room.

"You did," a man's voice agreed, as the door opened to reveal Shinichi's mother and father. "It's the most spectacularly useful failure the Organization has ever used. But you've also designed an excellent antidote."

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Yukiko asked, focusing on her son, where he was nearly swallowed up by the white sheets of the bed. She smoothed his hair away from his face and kissed Shinichi's forehead. Shinichi fidgeted and blushed at the attention, shooting a glare at Kaito, who was smiling even if he wasn't saying anything at the mothering Shinichi was enduring.

"I have a needle in my arm, mom," Shinichi answered, lifting it slightly off the bed and jostling the clear tube running from his elbow as he did. "And this might kill me. I didn't expect you and dad until after all this was over."

"Well, of course we're going to be here with you, Shinichi!" Yukiko said, placing her hips. "Chikage-chan and Ai-chan don't mind so long as we keep out of the way. And it's not supposed to take very long in any case."

"Not the initial treatment, anyway," Chikage agreed. "And you don't have a needle in your arm. It's a flexible tube that will move with you, and is less likely to be pulled out when your body changes size. Arm, please - the one without the drip line." Shinichi obediently lifted his hand up, watching as she set her finger across his wrist to check his pulse against the watch on her other wrist. "Ai, you can administer the injection whenever you're ready. Yukiko, you can stay next to Shinichi if you'd like. You won't be in the way where you are."

Kaito retreated to the edge of the room and claimed a waiting chair. He twisted it around, turning it so the back faced the center of the room and dropped into it, propping his arms across the back and leaning against it to wait.

Shinichi twisted to the side to watch as Ai slid a syringe with a cylinder of pale red liquid into a branch of his IV line.

Shinichi screwed his eyes shut as wave of dizziness and a sudden pain seared its way down his spine from the base of his skull down to the ends of his toes. An acidic burning joined the pain, and Shinichi felt his heart start to race. Two hands hovered just over his shoulders and another smoothed his hair away from his face. He let a whimper escape as the dizziness returned.

"The change should start soon," Ai's voice said, and Shinichi forced his eyes open in time to see her turn away, used needle in hand. She deposited it into a thick plastic box with biohazard markings adorning the outside. "This part is unpleasant."

Shinichi lost the last part of Ai's words as the burning in his veins flared and began to spread. The sensation crept through his system until every bit of him felt peculiarly hot and bitingly cold by turns. His hands clenched at the bedclothes, his lungs dragging in deep breaths as fine tremors started running down his muscles as the drug took effect. Kaito fidgeted in his chair, clenching long-fingered hands around the plastic seat, holding himself back from pacing and distracting the mad scientists from their waiting game.

Shinichi felt his mother smooth his hair away from his face, her hands shifting over his skin as darkness started encroaching on the edges of his vision. She stood over him, saying something that he couldn't hear over the roaring blood filling his ears. It took a small eternity for before the spasms clenching at his muscles and the frantic pounding of his heart snapped his consciousness, sending him into a dark spiral as white mist rose from his skin.

.oOo.

The white glow of the computer screen lit Saguru's face periodically as he clicked through screens, providing bare illumination for the notebook placed beside his right hand, and more frustration than answers. Across the top of the screen, the user name information on the database named the Metropolitan Chief of Police, his father. A niggling voice at the back of his mind - that sounded disturbingly like Kuroba - was making pointed observations about the clandestine appropriating of his father's computer and access for a personal project. However, Kaitou Kid's newfound tendency to be _shot at_, and Kuroba's continued absence from class were leaving the detective with precious few avenues of inquiry to follow. And this was not a mystery Hakuba intended to walk away from.

The heist a week before had been a bust; worse than any of the other times some poor sod had got it into his head to impersonate Kid. This time it hadn't been just to cover up a petty theft or murder, but an outright attempt on Kid's life. At least, that's when the shooting had started, and the result … he sighed … dead or missing witnesses.

There had been no rhyme or reason to the sudden violence – other than, perhaps, a connection to Kuroba and Kid's increasingly bizarre behavior – and then it had evaporated, vanished into the night like one of Kid's parlor tricks. The evidence he had managed to collect from the scene and the survivors wasn't making much sense. Saguru dragged his fingers across his eyes and mentally amended the thought: the information was making even less sense than Kid's brand of methodical insanity _ever_ made. Over the week since Kid's last appearance, Saguru hadn't come any closer to untangling the morass that had started with Kuroba's abrupt vanishing act, and culminated with the botched heist.

The very odd heist, with conflicting reports for nearly everyone that had been there. By now, the police department rumor mill was churning into overdrive, saying that Kid's heists had gained a level of real danger on top of their normal mind-bending weirdness. The excitement was infecting the entire task Force as stranger and stranger things bubbled to the surface, creating a self-confirming prophecy that the events surrounding Kakunoshin's unreturned Rudra Sapphire were the oddest of all the Kaitou Kid heists.

Someone even claimed to have seen Hattori Heiji at the scene. Hakuba wanted to dismiss that rumor out of hand, as the brash Osakan would never have made the trek to attend the heist without at least checking in with Inspector Nakamori. Even so-called detective prodigies gave lip-service to procedure.

The thought of detective prodigies sparked a snippet of remembered conversation with Aoko flashed from his memory. A day that she had affectionately complained about tripping over detectives in Ekoda that were known to live in Beika. She claimed to have seen, and spoken to, Kudou Shinichi and Edogawa Conan. It seemed that Edogawa was friends not only with the Osakan Hattori Heiji, but related to Kudou. It made Saguru suspect that if any teenage detective had been on scene, it wasn't Hattori Heiji at all, but _Kudou Shinichi_, and the officer in question had simply gotten the two mixed up somehow. After all, if Hattori had been there, why had _Kudou_ – who presumably lived in the area – missed it?

Saguru idly pulled up a web search and typed in Kudou's name to see what came up. He knew all too well that Kudou had been missing on some complicated foreign case no one was willing to talk about, and Saguru hadn't been truly interested enough to dig into. He had, however, been pulled in enough times as a substitute for the elusive teen to wonder.

Unsurprisingly, most of the hits returned past newspaper articles, archived videos to a handful of interviews, book reviews and excerpts by Kudou _Yuusaku_, and fansites – a few still maintained and updated by dogged fangirls, and others that had jumped ship for another celebrity and sometimes Kid.

Conspiracy sites also lurked in the list, showing on the stark glow of his computer screen, which Saguru dismissed. Kudou had minor celebrity in Japan, and some were all too eager to link a long absence to something more sinister than undercover work with Interpol. Like … Saguru squinted slightly, willing the characters to alter themselves into something rational and failing miserably … Kudou Shinichi's disappearance being the result of kidnapping by the Illuminati. Or aliens. Or a secret alliance of young geniuses being developed overseas in the United States to destroy hidden threats to society.

Some of them were nearly as ridiculous as the theories he had seen floating around that Kaitou Kid was searching for the key to the fountain of youth … or a way to release his demonic overlords into the world of men. It really depended on whether the theorist was a Kid fan or not and whether any of them believed that Kid's seemingly-miraculous abilities were the result of smoke and mirrors, or selling his soul to nefarious powers.

Dismissing crazy theories about eternal youth and shadowy organizations, Saguru scrolled back to the top of the page and clicked on one of the interview videos out of idle curiosity. There weren't any mentions of Kudou being back in Japan in his cursory look, and all of the interviews were fairly old. Saguru had never actually met or even seen Kudou, but a small part of him wondered about the so-called Heisei Holmes. He let his mind wander, fitting bits of the night's events together and trying to shake out sensible truth from the insane illusions Kid seemed so partial to and let the interviewer's light tones introduce her guest.

It was always possible the imposter Kid had incurred the wrath of some criminal faction, one savvy enough to follow him to the heist, and the gunfight that had broken out was only crossfire in a private dispute not related to Kaitou Kid at all. That would mean Kid was either embroiled in something considerably dodgy – which fit with his sudden disappearance and reappearance only when the imposter stepped onto the scene – or Kid was just being his usual infuriating self to keep them guessing.

The voices on the video changed and a familiar young man's voice spoke – his tone polite but underscored with a current of confidence bordering on outright arrogance, and carrying a distinct Tokyo accent. Hakuba's attention snapped forward and he cursed as the video blanked out and flashed a buffering message at him, its swirling arrow mocking him for several breathless seconds before the image returned. A crawl of cold horror settled into his stomach as a photo of Kudou Shinichi de-pixilated on the screen along with the familiar voice.

Tamed brown hair that had encountered a comb and hair gel in the recent past, keen eyes taking in the surroundings not captured by the camera, and smiling confidently, the teenager on the screen was Kuroba Kaito. It sounded like him, looked like him, and – while it didn't _lounge_ like him – the young man in the video clip had the same wiry readiness that Kuroba had, useful for split second mop-dodging or making infuriatingly impossible things appear out of midair.

Saguru leaned forward, his chair squeaking as it rolled back and he slid to the front attentively and opened another search, this time for images. Having no previous interesting in his vanished rival, he had never bothered to look up past newspaper reports, or articles that featured Kudou's photo. He preferred to consult with case files when needed, but now he wished he had. Cached webpages and more newspaper clips produced a quick array of Kudou Shinichi's face and confirmed that the detective shared an uncanny resemblance with Kuroba Kaito

Saguru propped his his chin on his thumbs as he considered it, trying to pull the niggling sense of a missing piece from the back of his mind into clarity. He was a detective, adept at slotting information and evidence together to form an accurate picture of activities certain parties didn't want illuminated, and Kaitou Kid, for all his adrenaline-junkie and show-offish tactics, was notoriously difficult to illuminate. And Kuroba didn't want to be illuminated or found right then. And that meant Kuroba was in serious trouble.

His instincts told him Kuroba hadn't left Japan – probably hadn't even left the Tokyo area – but he _was_ hiding, and his mother's absence at the same time made the finer hairs on the back of Saguru's neck prickle. Also, Aoko knew something more than she was letting on to. He was sure of it in the same way he was sure that Kuroba Kaito was also the Kaitou Kid, and crippled by the same lack of evidence.

After the storm of indignant fury passed in the wake of her kidnapping, she had relaxed, some of the irritation-veiled worry he'd known was over Kuroba's absence and infrequent contact draining out of her. She cooperated with her father and with him, answering their questions, but staunchly asserting she didn't remember much. And then she would vanish, usually excusing herself by saying she needed to check up on Kuroba's coup of doves or water his mother's plants, or some other minor chore she'd been fulfilling ever since the impromptu "vacation" was announced.

Saguru toyed with the idea that Kuroba was holed up in his own house. If he was in as serious of trouble as all the evidence pointed, there were worse ideas than hiding in plain sight. The obvious answer was to somehow corner Aoko-san and ask her several pointed questions, but he knew exactly how far he _wouldn't_ get with that if Kuroba had somehow managed to swear her to secrecy.

Still, he felt like he had to try. The mystery he could see lurking in the clues taunted him. In fact, the case carried the same thrill of the hunt as difficult cases with the police, but with a personal tang because it embroiled those he considered friends. And some part of him had to admit, teeth-clenched and reluctant as a cat herded towards water, that Kuroba _was _a friend.

Saguru laid out his facts alongside his hunches, hoping the organization would tease out the final bit of information that connected the parts.

Fact: Kid hadn't returned his last stolen gem. It was getting unlikely he planned to return it at all. This meant _that_ jewel was somehow special, dangerous, or both.

Hunch: it was the Agni Ruby at the core of the thief's current elusiveness.

Fact: Kudou Shinichi and Edogawa Conan were both in the Beika area, but had been absent from the last heist. It broke Edogawa's pattern of attending any heist close enough that he could.

Fact: Kudou hadn't been in the papers recently, indicating the case he had been absent on wasn't completed. There hadn't even been any gossip about Kudou's return floating around the police station, which, Saguru realized, was _odd_.

Hunch: Kuroba hadn't left Japan.

Saguru stilled and his hands fell to the desk as his eyes sought out one of the pictures of Kudou still sitting on his screen. There was a possibility that Kuroba was impersonating Kudou. It was a simple disguise, admittedly, and Kuroba had spent enough time around the police to impersonate any of them, probably down to actually solving the odd case if he had to. He was possibly good enough to sneak the disguise past even Edogawa, if the little prodigy wasn't looking for it.

Hakuba's hands descended on the keyboard and sent another query into the police database, this time for an address. Kudou's house and contact information should be on considering his past history working with the police. A sharp, triumphant smile crept across Saguru's face as the information flashed up onto the screen, and his left hand drifted towards the pair of handcuffs he had dropped on the desk earlier. It was, he decided, time to pay a visit to a fellow detective.

.oOo.

Shinichi twitched as his mind cleared from the fog of unconsciousness. His bones ached, and his muscles felt over-stretched – weak in a peculiar way that had nothing to do with the overlaying feeling of a nasty cold and everything to do with suddenly reorganizing every organ and bone in his body.

"Mom? Dad?" He croaked, wincing as he shifted over to his side, and felt the tube taped to his arm pull against the skin. "Kaito?"

"Ah, so the patient is awake!" an unfamiliar voice cackled. Shinichi gasped and pushed his hands underneath him, twisting to find … Kaito looming over the back of the hospital bed, nearly nose to nose with him and grinning behind a set of shiny goggles strapped over his eyes. At some point, Kaito had exchanged his scruffy clothing for a fitted red lab coat, and he reached towards the bed's rolling table with one gloved hand, the heavy, black rubber squeaking as his long fingers flexed. Kaito slid around the bed, straightening as he reached the table and hefted a beaker filled to nearly the top with a pale liquid that spilled white smoky mist from the mouth and down the glass sides.

"Please tell me Agasa didn't make that for you … Gyah! Your hands are cold!" Shinichi jerked away as one of Kaito's gloved hands caught his chin and shoved a straw in his mouth. He found it smelled strongly of vanilla and a dusty sort of powder. Shinichi spit the straw out and pressed himself against the mattress, his free arm clamping protectively over the tube in his other arm.

"Don't you trust me, Detective?" Kaito asked, still in a high, grating voice with more than a hint of madness lurking in its shrillness. "Or have you had enough science experiments for one day?"

"Definitely had enough of the ones foisted on me by crazy people," Shinichi grumbled, still pressing his back into the mattress and pillows. "What is that, and why are you trying to force it down my throat?"

"Oh, this?" Kaito raised the beaker up to eyelevel, shaking it slightly and making the straw spin around the lip. "Mom says you need to drink it. It'll help your body recover from the strain you just put it through." He swirled it around in the beaker once more before shoving it into Shinichi's chest, waiting until Shinichi fumbled his way into a solid grip before releasing it and flinging himself along the bottom of the bed. "How do you feel, anyway? Oh, and watch out for the dry ice I dropped in it. Last thing you need is a frozen tongue."

Shinichi sniffed at the beaker before taking a cautious sip of the contents through the straw. "You never said what this is."

"Protein shake of some sort, I think. Mom and Haibara-san say it's good for you," Kaito told him, prodding at Shinichi's foot until Shinichi pulled his legs up and out of the way. Kaito reached up and pushed the goggles off his eyes, forcing his already wild hair to spike up crazily over and around them. "Think they wanted you to get something other than my blood in you for the next few hours." He waved a hand lazily towards the half-full bag of viscous red liquid that hung next to Shinichi's hospital bed and the drip line running from the base of it into Shinichi's arm. "Though that's what happens when your total blood volume jumps from three liters to five."

Shinichi took another swallow of the drink, wondering idly if Ai and his aunt had really given Kaito the mixture in a beaker, of if Kaito had stashed the original glass somewhere and conjured up the beaker just for show. Probably just for show, he decided.

Silence descended while Shinichi drained the beaker in careful swallows and Kaito pulled a set of brightly-colored rubber balls from … somewhere … and started juggling them while hanging upside-down off one side of the bed. Shinichi watched for a moment before he stretched out a leg and nudged Kaito through the blanket. Kaito sat up enough to look at Shinichi questioningly, who pushed at him again. "You're hogging my bed."

Kaito grinned, and sat up, the balls switching into a dizzying orbit as he did so. "It's nice that you're taking up so much of it, huh?"

"Mm," Shinichi said, noncommittally, but twitching when Kaito freed up a hand to poke at the inside of his foot. "Gah! Hands to yourself, or get off!"

Kaito laughed and dodged the foot trying to lodge itself in his ribs before rolling to his feet, and making the spinning balls vanish in a puff of smoke and a fall of glitter. Shinichi glared at him, brushing shiny specks out of his hair. "So, what's next?"

"Next?" Shinichi echoed. "Next we have twenty-four hours until we know if this," he held up the arm with the intravenous drip attached to it, "worked. How many of these have they pumped into me?" Shinichi asked, pointing at the nearly drained bag of viscous blood hanging suspended above him.

"That's your second one," Kaito answered, eyes flickering momentarily to follow Shinichi's gesture. "You were out for a while after mom and Haibara-chan injected you. Your mom and dad went to get dinner for everyone a bit ago, and I can't really go wandering around outside … well, I could throw on a disguise easily enough, but it's not the same. I volunteered to stay back and keep an eye on you and make sure you didn't roll off the bed."

Shinichi responded by pulling his blanket away from his leg, moving cautiously as he shifted his feet off the side of the mattress and set them on the polished wood floor beneath him. Kaito tensed as Shinichi continued working himself out of bed, grabbing a firm hold of the IV stand. He rested some of his weight on it as he stood, using the other hand to reach back and keep the gown closed.

Kaito slid off the bed as well, hands extending, but hesitating – not certain if Shinichi would want help, or if this was something the other boy was determined to do on his own.

"Um … Shinichi?"

"What?" Shinichi grunted, taking his first few, unsteady steps. "I'm not hooked up to any monitors, so no one's too worried about me moving around. And I'm mostly just … getting used to the ground being a lot further away than I'm used to. It's going to take a bit for my brain to catch up my motor control with the rest of my body."

Kaito watched Shinichi stagger around his bed for a moment before speaking again. "So, what's next? How long do you think we can stay off their radar?"

"Long enough," Shinichi answered simply, pushing himself back to his feet with more stability to his movements. "There's at least one woman in the Organization that knew about Conan, but she's ... odd. I think she trained with your dad, and she could have outed me before now. She probably keeps tabs on my movements."

"That's both reassuring ... I think ... and completely terrifying," Kaito said. "Think she'll say anything now that the chibi-tantei's gone missing? If she does, we're going to need an escape plan in place."

"We'll think of something," Shinichi said. "Where are my clothes? They don't expect me to drag this thing up the stairs in search of them, do they?" Shinichi gave the IV stand a light shake.

Kaito started towards the screen that Conan had changed behind hours before, and dragged the folding chair from behind it. A set of clothes sat on the chair, which Kaito pushed forward. "Yours or mine?" Shinichi asked, walking towards the chair and dragging his IV stand along with him, scraping the metal casters across the floorboards.

"They were in your closet," Kaito answered.

The room they stood in had previously been used for any number of things, from a tea ceremony room - when his mother had been practicing for a part in one of her last movies, and had the entire room mocked up in an elaborately traditional form – to a spare library filled with boxes of books after a series of unfortunate events in the upstairs library had resulted in a complete renovation of the room and filled the house with paint fumes for two weeks. Shinichi still vividly remembered taking refuge anywhere but indoors during that stretch of time.

He also recalled that most of the mystery novels in his father's collection had ended up in a box at the far corner, and under several other boxes ... which eventually resulted in a five year old Shinichi burrowing into peril in an attempt to get at them.

Shinichi grabbed the chair with his free hand and dragged both it and his IV stand behind the curtain. Shinichi got underwear and a pair of comfortably worn jeans on before holding up the shirt and zippered sweatshirt up in his free hand and staring at the remaining clothing in mild annoyance. There was no way he'd manage to get the shirt without taking the tube out of his arm ... and Shinichi momentarily shuddered at what his two doctors would say if he did that.

Kaito's footsteps approached and his messy-haired head popped around the edge of the screen in curiosity. "You just going to hang out back here or ... oh," he trailed off, seeing Shinichi holding the shirt up and the tube still connecting his arm to the nearly-empty blood bag above. Kaito stepped the rest of the way around the screen and grinned as Shinichi's annoyed expression transformed into a wary one. "Relax, I'm a little better at this than you are."

"Better at what ..." Shinichi started jumping back and tripping over the chair beside him as a puff of localized pink smoke puffed up from his feet. Kaito yelped and reached out a hand, catching Shinichi's free wrist and dragging him back upright, his hand bunching up the long sleeves of the zippered sweatshirt now pulled neatly over the unmarked arm. The other half of the sweatshirt was hung comfortably over Shinichi's other shoulder, where it couldn't interfere with anything. Inexplicably, the t-shirt was on completely, somehow bypassing the need to upset the IV still inserted neatly into Shinichi's left arm.

Shinichi stood speechless for a moment before shaking his head. "That's one use for your more aggravating talents."

"You're welcome," Kaito smirked. "Now, come on, back to bed for you while I go hunt down one of the mad scientists to pull that thing out of your arm."

"You're in a hurry all of a sudden?" Shinichi said, a touch of suspicion coloring his voice and stopping in the middle of the room. "What are you up to?"

"Getting you out of the house!" Kaito said brightly. "You have a date to prepare for. And unless you want your mom to turn it into the social event of the year – while publicity is something we really can't afford just now – you have ring shopping to do."

"A ring?" Shinichi echoed, stilling completely. Ah, right, he thought. A ring. And a date. He was going to ask Ran to marry him. And hopefully she was going to say yes. He needed a ring. Part of him, for the briefest of instants, considered just telling Kaito that his mom kept a jewelry box in her room upstairs, and letting the jewel thief do a bit of thieving, as there was a better than average chance Yukiko wouldn't be able to catch Kaito doing it. The rest of him scolded that small part for the temptation and moved on to bigger problems. "Right. A ring. Kaito, I can't exactly just walk into a jewelry store, pick one out, and have it engraved on the Kudou credit card."

"Right, right," Kaito said slipping around Shinichi and pushing him lightly back towards the bed. "I already asked Jii for a few places he'd suggest that are discrete. And we're not going to get out of here at all if you don't act like a good patient for a bit longer."

"You asked Jii?" Shinichi echoed.

"Do you think I put on my dad's suit and spontaneously knew where to get everything I needed to use as Kid?" Kaito asked, rolling his eyes. "I make most of it myself, yeah, but I still need to get the raw materials from somewhere, and I have to be careful that it can't be traced back to me."

"You've been using the black market?!" Shinichi demanded, twisting away and turning on his cousin.

Kaito held up his hands. "If you'd thought about what I've been doing to bring Them in, you'd have already figured out that I do. And it's not something I'm going to apologize for, Shinichi. Not everyone has the same 'let's play fair' ethic that you do. You didn't try and track down my civilian persona, and you know plenty enough chemistry that you could have traced me that way if you'd wanted to and if I had left enough evidence of it lying around. You didn't look for purchases of chemicals I'd need for smoke bombs, or fireworks, or even the steel I use on the cards in my gun."

"Jii has a network," Shinichi concluded, and Kaito confirmed it with a nod.

"One he swears is on the side of the angels – more or less – but that's how I get most of the stuff for my gear," Kaito confirmed dryly with a nod. "Can't just special order razor-edged playing cards, so I make them and retrieve as many as I can whenever I can."

"I can't tell Ran I bought her an engagement ring from a fence!"

Kaito shrugged. "Then don't." He slipped through the door and out of sight before Shinichi gathered his wits to respond. Shinichi glared after Kaito and sank down to sit on the edge of the bed, eventually pulling his feet back up onto the blankets and resigned himself to wait.

.oOo.

_**Kat's Notes: **__Okay, now I can apologize for the long wait. I finally just used last NaNoWriMo (if you don't know what this is, I highly recommend you google it, because it is awesome and fun) to write nearly all the rest of this story. Going in I thought "oh hey, I'm almost done with the outline, I'll just power through it for NaNo, and do something else with the other half of the month!" Yeeah. 50,000 words came …50,000 words went … still not finished … BUT, I got a huge chunk of it written. It's still going to be a bit of work to get this story finished off, but I'm close, and I have motivation. And an outline. I love outlines._

_I also have a month-long break from the writing group I'm part of, and buffer beyond that. Much as I love fanfic, I also love original writing and that tends to take more effort on my part to write._

_I'm kind of sad to say this, but the original estimate of fifteen chapters was off. Everyone should just start laughing when I estimate chapters, because stories have this tendency to grow on me. The last time I said "oh, it'll be ten, maybe fifteen chapters long" I found myself passing chapter 30 and wondering if I had missed a left turn at Albuquerque, because this was not part of the plan… I'm not going to swear this story will not reach the 30 chapter mark. But I do not think it will._

_I also have to give credit where it's due: Midoriko-sama has been the marvelous (and super quick!) beta for this monstrosity of a talky chapter. She helped me trim the insanity of a NaNo draft into a working chapter. She also was hugely instrumental in coming up with that mess of explanation for apoptic necrosis, and what the Apotoxin was actually doing on a cellular level. Everyone give her lots of love for not keeling over dead when I actually sent her a chapter for beta._

_Chapter Next: Hakuba puts some things together! And the boys go shopping for a ring in the weird part of town._


	15. Doppleganger

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine. Still playfully infringing.

* * *

.: **Chapter 15 – Doppleganger** :.

_"There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared: Twins"_

_~ Josh Billings_ ~

.oOo.

Shinichi prodded the bit of gauze tapped to the inside of his arm as he walked alongside Kaito and up the stairs to emerge finally in the sunlit, main part of the house. His arm sported a taped-on pad of gauze with a rust-colored spot of blood in the center. Kaito grinned and stuffed his hands in his pockets, suddenly enjoying the fact he did not have to match his steps to a seven-year-old's stride. It was strange, but the best kind of strange. "Going to call Ran and set up your romantic interlude?"

"Not really, and yes," Shinichi said, looking over at the opposite wall. Kaito eyed his cousin and calculated the probability Shinichi would run into a wall with the thoughtful, far-away expression on his face. "There's a restaurant I want to take her to, but not until we know this is permanent." Shinichi pointed to his chest.

Kaito looked sideways at him. "A restaurant? In public? You know you shouldn't be planning things, romantic or otherwise, to do in public places. Or be seen in public. Or wander through public. I thought you were going to exile all of us to Agasa's and have your big date here at the house."

"Not this one." Shinichi shook his head. "Besides, you were seen in public a lot as me. We've solved cases. The whole of Beika knows Kudo Shinichi is back if they care to ask around about it."

"With Conan dropping off the radar, they might. But I'm more worried because Ran and I could walk through a park without tripping over a dead jogger - even if you were with us. I'm not convinced you can do that by yourself."

Shinichi folded his arms and glared at Kaito. "There have been two murders at that restaurant. There won't be a third. And if there is, I'll solve it, and this time there's no way I'll turn back into Conan." He hoped. But every fiber of him wanted this to be the end, no more Conan, and no more dodging and phone calls to Ran.

Kaito sighed. "Have it your way. But I'm calling Hattori. You'd better go find a comb before someone sees you."

"I'm going to shower," Shinichi told him. "You can tell me what sort of maybe-legal places Jii told you about when I'm done."

"Deal," Kaito said. "I'm going to grab breakfast. Pretty sure there was stuff Yukiko-oba didn't cook somewhere. Want anything? Could always invite Mouri-chan over and see if she'll take pity on you and your poor, kitchen-inept, cousin."

"Just the shower," Shinichi said. "And don't call Ran. Still don't know how I'm going to explain you to her."

"At least you're planning to explain me." Kaito vanished with a puff of smoke. Shinichi shook his head and continued towards the front of the house and the stairs that led up to his room. He had managed to put a foot on the first step when the doorbell rang behind him.

Shinichi froze, finely-honed paranoia asserting itself. It could be a delivery, or an unexpected–but-non-lethal-visitor. It could, of course, be Ran. She was polite enough to ring the bell, even if the both of them had been in and out of each others' homes countless times over the years. It could even be the kids, wondering if Conan really had gone home to America … Or it could be someone far more sinister who had noticed Kudo Shinichi's return.

The bell sounded again, and Shinichi stepped back off the stairway and edged closer to the front door, padding on bare feet, and willing his muscles to adjust to his radically altered size. He snagged a book that had been left on an end table in the hall just before the door. He held the book up to cover the peephole, hoping anyone looking through the peephole for an eye would see darkness cover the hole, and leave the book in more danger of being shot than Shinichi's head.

Several long breaths passed before whoever was on the other side of the door started pounding on it. "Kuroba!" a British-tainted voice shouted. Shinichi jerked away from the wall, fumbling the book. It fell to the floor with a thud, which silenced the fist pounding on the door for a moment. Shinichi dragged in a breath and pushed the fallen book out of the way with a foot. He recognized the voice now, and turned back to the door to unlock it. Shinichi pulled the door open with a welcoming smile to greet Hakuba Saguru where he smoldered on the porch.

"Hakuba-san, good afternoon."

Hakuba stormed into the house, pushing past Shinichi with righteous fury, and turned to glare at Shinichi. "You have worried Aoko-san, and usurped the good name of an absent detective."

"Aah, Hakuba-san?" Shinichi tried to interject, eyes widening as he was confronted with Kaito's name and Hakuba's fury, and found himself pinned further under the furious blond's glare. He recognized Hakuba, of course, having met him on a few occasions as Conan, and heard nearly unendingly about the other detective from both Heiji and Kaito.

"What is going on here, Kuroba?" Hakuba demanded.

"I'm not..." Part of him wondered how Hakuba, as a skilled observer, wasn't picking up on the differences between himself and Kaito. Although, he had to take into account that those differences were likely being overshadowed by the current, Kaito-like scramble his hair was currently adopting. "Hakuba-san," he tried again, only to be interrupted by another voice coming from down the hall. Hakuba's attention shifted towards the voice as well, and Shinichi watched the confusion flicker over his face.

Kaito stood halfway down the hall, finishing the last of an onigiri he had scrounged up somewhere, and blinking in mild surprise at their intruder. Hakuba looked from Kaito to Shinichi and back again, the wheels in his mind visibly turning as he added up 'Kuroba in hiding' and somehow came up with two dopplegangers. "How are there two of you?" he demanded, teeth clicking together an instant later and a faint, embarrassed, flush spread over his nose.

"One's plenty," Shinichi said. "Hakuba-san, I'm not Kaito and I'm not an illusion."

"You are Kudou Shinichi, then." Hakuba said. "My apologies, Kudou-san. I had heard you were out of the country and unavailable recently. Of course, I'd heard the same about Kuroba, and when you resurfaced nearly the same time he vanished, I drew seemingly logical conclusions."

"Shinichi comes back from a case, and the logical conclusion was that I was impersonating him?" Kaito popped the last bite of rice into his mouth before all but bouncing the rest of the way down the hallway. Before Shinichi could continue his protest, his cousin slipped behind him and ruffled up his hair, sending it spiking up in even wilder directions and further blurring the line between them. "Not that it's hard."

Shinichi ducked away with a yelp and a growl. "Oi! Kaito, lay off!"

"You're not the first person to get us mixed up." Kaito ducked away from the vicious elbow jab Shinichi sent his way. He slid around Shinichi like a ghost, popping up behind Hakuba, who twisted back in shock as Kaito's hands snagged him by the shoulders and pulled him more firmly between himself and Shinichi. "But there's really no reason for me to impersonate Shinichi, Hakuba-kun."

"That … could be under some discussion," Hakuba managed, tugging at Kaito's grip. "And cease using me as a shield!"

Shinichi folded his arms and pinned the grinning fool with a glare, but didn't lunge after him. "I apologize for my cousin's antics, Hakuba-san. Though, being his classmate, you're probably used to it. Kaito, I know where you sleep."

"Of course you know where I sleep," Kaito scoffed, but released Hakuba and bounced out of range. "Our parents stuffed us in the same room. Why, when you've got this whole place to knock around in, I don't know."

"Easier to keep all the trouble contained in one room, I'm sure," Hakuba said stiffly. He straightened his clothes and backing against the wall where he could keep an eye on both of them.

They watched him back, Kaito's cheerful smile stretching further as the silence lengthened until he finally broke into a laugh. "Just ask, Hakuba-kun. You're fidgeting like you want to."

Hakuba cast an affronted glare at the other boy. "I am not fidgeting. Though, as you have invited the question … I wasn't aware Kuroba had any living relatives beyond his mother."

"Hakuba-kun has a full dossier on me," Kaito said. "And through his stalking, he's convinced himself I'm Kaitou Kid. So, that's about on par with not realizing I have family in Beika."

"It was a matter of public record!" Hakuba sputtered, growing slightly red across the bridge of his nose. "All of it easily accessed from any computer with basic internet access. And it was not _stalking_. It was part of my investigation into the identity of Kaitou Kid!"

"And, as I've told you multiple times before, Hakuba, I'm not Kaitou Kid."

Shinichi choked and started coughing, interrupting the other two. Kaito pushed past Hakuba, eyes wide, only for Shinichi to wave him off and pull in a few breaths before apologizing. "I'm fine. I picked up a small bug during a case. We think the worst of it is over now."

"My condolences. The case you've been heavily involved in recently, I take it?" Hakuba asked.

The two exchanged brief glances, and Shinichi nodded. "Yes, but since it's still ongoing, we can't tell you any more details than that."

Hakuba's eyes narrowed. He had caught the 'we' in the statement. "You were working the case together? I wasn't aware Kuroba was interested in detective work."

"Of course I'm interested in detectives!" Kaito protested. "Nakamori-keibu takes me along with Aoko sometimes to Kid heists, and I've helped Shinichi on a few cases, haven't I, Shinichi?"

"Well, you were definitely there on a few occasions," Shinichi agreed, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"And he tags along to heists more than I do," Kaito said, pointing to Hakuba.

Hakuba's eyebrows quirked upward and he folded his arms. "Somehow I doubt that."

Shinichi cleared his throat to interrupt them. "Hakuba-san, I apologize if Kaito's absence startled anyone. My mother can be a force of nature when it comes to family outings. Now that you've seen that Kaito hasn't usurped my good name … was there anything else we could help you with?"

"Nakamori Aoko was concerned when Kuroba didn't contact her," Hakuba said at length, still watching the two with a healthy measure of distrust.

"Already called her," Kaito told him. "Sorry to make you stalk me all this way out. Aoko could have cleared everything up in a few minutes if you'd talked to her. Would have saved you a bus fare."

"I'll be sure to follow up with her."

A clock in the upstairs hallway chimed, catching Kaito's attention for a moment before he turned back to Hakuba. "You do that. Nice seeing you. Bye, Hakuba-kun!" Kaito said, opening the front door, propelling the detective out and shutting it behind him. "So … that's not going to work on Ran."

"I don't think that even worked on Hakuba," Shinichi said, watching the door as Kaito turned the locks on it and turned back to him. "He's not going to just ignore all of this now, and you know it."

Kaito sagged a bit and let his head fall back. "Yeah, I know."

"Even if we get rid of him for today, he's going to keep looking into why and who was shooting at Kid."

"And if he does, they'll be shooting at him next." Kaito ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I know. And Hakuba's annoying – and probably's got an ear pressed to the door right now trying to listen in – but no way do I want to see him dead."

"But you don't want to just tell him everything either."

"Tch, you're joking, right? He hasn't earned it," Kaito said. "I told Hatorri, but he's in this up to his eyeballs anyway because he's friends with you, and no way is he going to let himself be left out. Hakuba, though? If he stops snooping, they'll leave him alone, but he doesn't stop snooping."

Shinichi rubbed at his neck and sighed. "Then we tell him enough to make him feel like he has to. He's too good a detective to jeopardize an active investigation for the benefit of his own curiosity. His father probably drilled that into him early on."

"That still won't explain how you don't officially come up as one of my relatives, and he's going to wonder how he missed that," Kaito pointed out. "We'll have to tell him our dads had a falling out before we were born and went their separate ways. You look way too much like _my _dad, and I look way too much like _your _dad for us to be related through our moms."

"That's close enough to the truth he might buy it," Shinichi agreed, then frowned suddenly as a grin tugged at Kaito's mouth.

Kaito waved his suspicions off with a flip of his hand. Shinichi's time as Conan had certainly honed his falsehood skills. The detective would probably be horrified by that compliment, so Kaito made a mental reminder to bring it up later. "You'll see."

.oOo.

Hakuba had remained on the porch, glaring at the door in consternation, and picking meticulously over the evidence and deductions that had led him here when when the two culprits reopened it and reached out to pull him back inside. He yelped as he was dragged forward, and the door closed behind him.

"What that… Kuroba! Kudou-san!"

"Hush a moment, Hakuba-kun," Kaito ordered, in Kid's voice. That brought Hakuba up short, and he stared at the two of them, the muscles in his jaw tensed.

"What. Is. Going. On. Here."

"That is exactly what you need to stop looking into, Hakuba-san."

"What?" Hakuba's British calm cracked. "Not without some sort of reasonable explanation!"

"Because you seem to be trying very hard to blow an international investigation, and possibly get yourself killed."

Hakuba's attention narrowed on Shinichi, who rubbed a hand over his eyes before waving everyone down the hall. "Let's go grab some coffee in the kitchen;, and Kaito and I will tell you the basics, okay? No names, or details, but enough that you'll see why we need you to leave this alone."

The coffee maker was already half full and waiting, leftover from Kaito's quick meal and the caffeine demands of five over-caffeinated adults. Kaito slid past the other two to rummage in the cabinet before emerging with three clean mugs and spoons. Shinichi placed the coffee pot in the middle of the table, within easy reach of all three arms.

"If I may," Hakuba started, pouring and sipping slowly from his cup as he regarded the other two over the rim. "Why is it that there's no record of Kuroba's extended family?"

Kaito glanced towards Shinichi and answered with a shrug. "Our dads had a fight before we were born, and decided not to talk about it, or each other, after that. My dad took on mom's surname, and that was the end of it. Or would have been, except that the FBI found the connection when Shinichi got tangled up in one of their cases."

"Which one of you were targeted?"

"I was, at first," Shinichi answered. "I saw something a very dangerous group didn't want me to see, and they have protocols when it comes to leverage. Everyone who starts gathering information on them is eliminated, along with anyone who might be connected to them. The FBI started looking for any family members I had in danger of kidnapping, and they found the Kurobas."

"If the FBI could dig the information on mom and me up, then so could these people," Kaito added, sprawling over the back of his turned chair. "And it wasn't helping to have me wandering around, creating false Kudou sightings. So, they brought Oji-san to talk to mom, and agreed time away – preferably overseas – was the best plan."

"And yet, here you both sit," Hakuba said, setting his coffee down and threading his fingers together. "An escape from law enforcement, perhaps?"

Kaito chuckled and shook his head. "They know where to find us. The case led Shinichi back here, and I volunteered to help. Like I said, Nakamori-keibu's taken me along enough times I'm not completely useless."

"And that, Hakuba-san, is about the limit of what we can tell you without compromising the case," Shinichi said.

Hakuba frowned, and watched them until a scuff of house slippers against the floor caught his attention. Kudou and Kuroba looked up as well, curious, but not alarmed as an older man who resembled them both stepped into the kitchen. "Ah, Hakuba-kun," he greeted, nodding to the boys as he moved to claim his own mug of coffee. "I was wondering when you would arrive on the doorstep." Hakuba stared at him, looking between the man and the two teenagers, drawing a chuckle from Yuusaku. "There is more than one group watching for anyone digging around the information that led you here."

Shinichi sighed and dropped his chin onto one hand. "Hakuba-san, meet my father, Kudou Yuusaku."

"Kudou-san." Hakuba pushed his chair back so that he could offer a polite bow. He hesitated before sitting back down and frowned. "What do you mean by more than one group watching?"

"We have been keeping an eye on who is looking into this family, for one," Yuusaku said, stirring the coffee around in his cup. "Thus far, I've only seen reports of Interpol and my own contacts tracing anything back to you. But," he fixed Hakuba with a stern look through the lenses of his glasses, "it's only a matter of time before you stumble into more than that. It's most certainly time for you to leave this investigation to full professionals."

"Like Kudou-kun and Kuroba?" Hakuba asked dryly.

"Witnesses are professionals of a sort. Shinichi and Kaito have become experts in staying under their radar."

Hakuba considered the three for a moment before he drained the last of his cup and stood. "I apologize for intruding on your morning."

Yuusaku smiled and set his cup on the table. "I'm sure there was no harm done, Hakuba-kun. Here, let me walk you out."

The two remaining in the kitchen listened to the quiet murmur of voices in the front entry, waiting until the door opened and shut before saying anything themselves. "At least we really know that was Hakuba." Kaito took a long swallow from his cup, before scooping up Hakuba's to put them both into the sink for washing.

Shinichi smiled dryly. "You checked."

"Why do you think I latched onto him like that? It wasn't because I missed the annoyance." Kaito paused for a moment before continuing with a shrug. "Well, part of it was because I miss annoying _him_. Haven't done it in weeks, and I'm sure everyone misses it. Maybe not the teachers. Aside from what I sometimes did to Hakuba, Aoko and I got a bit rowdy some days… most days."

"You miss it, don't you?"

"You missed your life too," Kaito shrugged. "And I can still sneak out to see Aoko anytime I want. Oh, I'd better ask her to keep an eye on Hakuba for us. No one will notice if she does it."

"You're going to drop Hakuba into Aoko's lap,?" Shinichi asked. "And she's not going to plot revenge on you?"

Kaito waved the question off, "She won't mind. For some crazed reason she actually _likes_ Hakuba. She invites him to come along with us pretty regularly, so I don't think she'll have any problems with keeping an eye on him." Kaito looked toward the front door for a long moment, before speaking again. "What are your plans for the rest of today?"

Shinichi's eyebrows rose, curious at the question, and he tapped his fingers against the side of his coffee mug for a moment in thought. "Did you have something in mind?"

"I sort of … promised Ran you'd take her out," Kaito admitted. "After your mom dragged you out to the car, she was pretty upset. She's going to miss Conan a lot more than you will."

Shinichi winced. Ran _would _miss Conan, and, while Shinichi could arrange for emails and phone calls in Conan's voice, he was sick to death of calling her while pretending to be someone else. "I'll think of something."

.oOo.

The summer heat wasn't relinquishing the day as it faded into evening. Though, it was cooler under the trees, tempered by the grass and the spotty, overhead canopy that shielded the stones of the path. Ran walked alongside Shinichi, enjoying the comfortable silence that had lapsed between them. He seemed … different somehow, more settled than he had been in a long time, even since his latest reappearance. And before that, it seemed like every time he had slipped away from the case before that, everything had been a whirlwind of activity.

"What are you thinking about so hard, Ran?" Shinichi asked, a hint of laughter lurking in his voice.

"You," Ran answered, forcing herself to sound comfortable and casual. It was worth it to see Shinichi miss a step and a flush of pink spread across his nose. She giggled as he scrambled for a moment before catching his composure.

"Me? What were you …"

He stopped speaking and walking, attention snapping back into focus as sirens wailed, and a pack of squad cars screamed past. Shinichi straightened, following them with his eyes and Ran tensed. The flashing lights of the cars had vanished, but the sirens weren't growing fainter, meaning they had stopped somewhere nearby. She sighed internally and prepared to be dragged off to a crime scene, or to watch as Shinichi dashed off to one without her.

The evening really had been going too well. And the victim's family, whomever they were, would appreciate the help Shinichi provided in solving the case. It was important, she knew that, and Ran tried very hard not to begrudge the lost time.

"Hey." Shinichi reached out and pulled her hand into his own, startling her. Ran looked down at their joined hands, and back up at him with wide eyes. Shinichi's grip tightened a bit and he gave her a gentle tug. He pulled his cellphone from the pocket of his jacket with his free hand and held it up, the soccer ball charm on it dangling free. "Megure-keibu will call if they need me."

Ran stared at him, truly _stared_, and knew she was staring. "Shi … _Shinichi_..."

"Are you up for ice cream before we head back?" he asked, ignoring her sputtering, and, with a jolt, Ran realized why. He was putting her before the case. Maybe because the entire evening had been to take her mind off of missing Conan, but Shinichi was reining in his curiosity for the sirens still calling in the distance, and staying with her. She blushed as his fingers threaded with hers, and allowed herself to be tugged along.

They walked deeper into the park, passing other couples and families out for evening walks, salarymen striding through with briefcases in hand, and the occasional student artist sketching the park or taking photographs. Then, Shinichi nudged her towards a left-hand path, and she realized they were making a wide circle around the place where they had heard the police cars stop.

"Wait, Shinichi!"

He didn't release her hand, but halted, and turned to look at her expectantly.

"You can go to the case and see if they need your help, you know," she finally offered, smiling. He had been willing to stay with her instead of running off after a mystery, and that made something inside her smooth out and settle. "I know you haven't mysteriously been cured of being a detective geek, Shinichi."

Unexpectedly, Shinichi started to laugh. "Ran, it's not that. Really. We're just … tonight with you has been great, and I don't want it to end yet. Megure really will call if he needs me. If he does, I'll have to go." He sounded genuinely apologetic about it, and threaded their fingers together. Ran felt her face warm in a blush, and glanced quickly down at their joined hands. "But I don't _want _to leave you."

Ran watched him with wide eyes for a long moment before returning his grip on her hand, and leaning into his shoulder. a laugh almost escaped as she felt him tense, but he didn't say anything to stop her. "I'm glad."

.oOo.

The house lay quiet as Shinichi let himself in, and unlaced his shoes. A pair of house slippers waited for him, and a dim light glowed somewhere deep in the house. It was far enough away from all windows that it couldn't be seen from the street, but provided Shinichi with enough light to navigate.

It had been as close to a perfect night as he could have hoped for. Megure hadn't called, and he hadn't run off after any suspicious men in trench coats. Not that he would. He had learned his lesson about stalking trench coats without backup. Shinichi bit back a yawn as he pushed his bedroom door open.

Kaito sprawled on the spare futon beneath the window, a thatch of unruly hair, and one exposed foot poking from beneath the blanket. Walking softly enough not to wake him, Shinichi padded over to his dresser, and paused. Sitting on the cleared surface was a photograph and a mobile phone. The full moonlight from the window illuminated the top half of it, washing out the colors, but making the figures within the frame visible.

"Kaito!"

Kaito rolled his face into his pillow. "Mmf?"

Shinichi snatched the framed photograph off his dresser and stormed over to his cousin's futon and yanking Kaito's pillow away.

"Hey!"

"You were following us?"

Kaito levered himself up and rolled into a sitting position. "Not the whole time." He yawned. "Got called away for a bit."

Shinichi's eyes narrowed and he looked back at the phone that had been sitting beside the photograph. An all-too-familiar soccerball charm dangled from it. "When did you take my phone?" Shinichi reached into his pocket abruptly and pulled out … his phone. Or at least it was one that looked exactly like the phone resting on the dresser.

"You are way too easy to pickpocket," Kaito informed him, falling back to lean comfortably on his hands and looked smug. "There was a murder in the park. It won't be in the papers. You're welcome."

Shinichi paused, replayed his missing phone, the photograph, and Kaito's words, in an instant before everything slotted into place. "The sirens we heard … It wasn't just a burglary, was it? Megure-keibu called, but you stole my phone."

"Because you owed it to Ran not to go running off after a criminal." Kaito rolled his eyes. "I'd have called Hattori if I'd been really stuck."

That brought Shinichi up short, and he stared at Kaito in surprise. "There was a case? And you solved it?"

"Megure-keibu thinks you did," Kaito chuckled. "Amazingly, Kudou Shinichi, can be in two places at once."

"_You_ solved the case?" Shinichi repeated.

Kaito snatched his pillow back from Shinichi's hands dropped it back at the head of his futon. "Yes, detective, I solved the case. I'm a disgrace to phantom thieves everywhere; I've been hanging around with too many detectives lately."

"By stealing my phone and impersonating me. Again."

Kaito's eyes brightened with laughter. "Maybe not such a disgrace after all." Kaito flopped back into his pillow, another yawn ambushing him as the smug amusement wore off. "So, how did the rest of the night go? By the time Megure-keibu let me leave, you were already headed back here."

Shinichi brushed his hand over the top of the frame, expression softening, before he set it on bedstand next to his bed. It was a nice picture, he decided. The sunset through the trees gilded Ran's chestnut hair in warm gold, and he was walking close to her, hands clasped. It looked nice, and more dignified than a stalker's photo taken with a telephoto lens up in a tree.

Shinichi dropped onto his bed with a yawn of his own. "Everything went fine. And best of all, I didn't end the date by turning back into Conan." He felt a phantom echo of the heart-clenching pain he'd suffered every other time he had been restored to his real body, and rubbed at his chest in memory.

"No glass slipper for the princess this time, huh?" Kaito sounded half asleep again, not looking up to see Shinichi's nod in answer. Shinichi loosened the tie around his throat and pushed himself back up, heading for the window to open it. The room suddenly seemed warm, though Kaito was burrowing into his blankets as he fell back asleep. Shinichi stepped over the prone form of his cousin and stumbled. Kaito started awake with a yelp, twisting out of the way as Shinichi crashed to the floor beside him.

"What the h...Shinichi?"

"Nng." Shinichi pushed himself back up with one hand, the other clutching at his chest, and his teeth grinding from a sudden onslaught of pain.

"Shit." Kaito scrambled out of his blankets and grabbed Shinichi by the shoulders before he collapsed. "MOM!" He manhandled Shinichi onto the futon, watching in a panic as smoky mist rose from the older boy's skin, then lunged for the door. "MOM! Something's wrong!"

Kaito threw himself out into the hallway, and saw his mother, aunt, and uncle doors fly open, and disgorge the three adults. "Something's wrong with Shinichi!" Kaito skidded forward and started pulling his mother back down the hall towards Shinichi's room. "He was fine, and then he keeled over, and he was smoking."

Chikage pulled her hand free of her son's and rushed past him, swearing under her breath. "Ai-kun's antidote wore off. The apotoxin may be taking hold again."

* * *

**Kat's Notes:**  
Okay, so it looks like going from "edit those scenes you've had written for six months already" to "rewrite one of the scenes you've had since may, and make up three brand new ones" is more time consuming than I thought it would be. The good news? I have around 80 more pages of stuff written for this story … The bad news? I'm going to have to double that to finish it. I'm just praying the rest of this isn't as difficult as this chapter was!

Admittedly, I don't really like Hakuba. Or at least I don't like writing him. I am truly hoping I did him justice, in fact, because while I know a great deal of the fandom is enamored of him, I'm not.

And it's not that I can't stand him in a story, either. Some of my favorite stories heavily involve him. He can be written well, and I enjoy other people's renditions of him - most of the time - but I don't like writing him. I find him rather boring. In fact! This entire chapter was just a short scene in the first draft. And then it was like I was trying to shove Hakuba out the door, and he had both hands and feet braced against the doorframe. He wouldn't leave! And the scene ended up becoming a chapter, which will lead to other things later on. So, it looks like I'm stuck with the Tweed Wonder.

And then there was fluff! Me attempting to write fluff leads to me flailing around like a flaily thing. Ask my dear beta – and co-conspirator – Midoriko-sama. Midi had to put up with me through this entire chapter, and I think that qualifies her for sainthood. I seriously do.


	16. The Broken Coda

**Disclaimer: **Cameo's off the port bow! So, if you recognize it, that's probably intentional … but still not mine. And, yes, the mini-crossovers might be getting a bit out of hand. Still, they entertain me while I write, so I hope they're not totally wasted.

* * *

.:** Chapter 16 - **The Broken Coda :.

_"Three things cannot be hidden for long—the sun, the moon and the truth."_

~ Hindu Prince Gautama Siddhartha, 563-483 B.C. ~

.oOo.

Yukiko had brought him a book hours ago, but he hadn't turned a page in the last quarter hour. It wasn't much of a distraction from the quiet breathing across the room.

Two dark heads were buried in pillows, evoking memories he had spent twenty years forgetting. Forbidden thoughts, those. He'd spent everything for the good of becoming Kudou Yuusaku: mystery writer, sometime consulting detective, and only child.

The buried memories were shaking the sand away and slipping beneath the doors he had locked them behind. He could see a younger set of dark-haired heads, pillowed on backpacks and gathered cushions, and surrounded by books more often than not. Libraries were warmer and safer places to spend nights than the actual streets, until he and Toichi had managed to create their various bolt holes around the city. He had spent half of those nights reading and keeping watch for security guards, until it was his turn to sleep.

"Oji-san?" Yuusaku looked up to Kaito watching him and fighting back a yawn. "What time is it?" The boy stretched around to peer at the clock.

"Early," Yuusaku answered. "You should try and get some more sleep, Kaito-kun."

"How's Shinichi?"

Yuusaku glanced towards his son and set the book he wasn't reading in his lap. "No changes either way yet. Which, I believe is a good sign."

Kaito scratched at his wild hair and sat up, looking alert. He looked towards the bed, reassuring himself that Conan had not reappeared. "I'm awake now." He stretched hugely, limbering up gangly limbs before speaking again. "Go get some sleep. I'll stay up with him."

"I doubt I would sleep tonight either way," Yuusaku said, chuckling tolerantly. "And I don't mind standing lookout."

Something in his voice caught Kaito's curiosity, and he settled back thoughtfully before saying, "You're thinking about my dad, aren't you?"

"And what makes you say that?" Yuusaku asked, amused at the sleepy-eyed deduction being directed his way.

"Mom." Kaito yawned in earnest this time. "She looks at me like that sometimes. Asked her why once. You miss him a lot, don't you."

It wasn't really a question, but Yuusaku nodded in answer all the same. "I did from the beginning."

Kaito frowned at that, and hesitated only for a moment before pushing onward with a question. "Oji-san, why did you set up your identities like that? You could have become anyone you wanted. Why not create identities where you and dad knew each other, or were still related, and move further away?" Why didn't you we know, was unspoken, but hung prominently in the air.

Yuusaku didn't answer for a moment, but leaned back, allowing his head to fall against the wall behind him. "We did. And they found us. When we first left the Organization, Toichi and I set up new identities and moved as far away as our resources let us. I could create passports, and work histories for both of us. Toichi was one of the best cat burglars in the world, and we knew how to look for a fence. We were careful, we kept our efforts small, and we did our best to fade into normalcy, and leave Cognac and Chambord behind."

Kaito leaned back against Shinichi's bed, and drew one knee up against his chest, looking down at the floor in thought. "Which of you was which?"

"I was Cognac. Your father was Chambord. We were not fully fledged members of the Black Organization, but we were very close to it before we left. That is why they tracked us, and with more resources than my brother and I had access to at the time. We burned a lot of luck and all of our collective skill surviving that night. After that, we didn't dare recreate anything we'd used before. We needed new identities, new names, and new families."

Yuusaku took a deep breath, and smiled a bit. "We still found ways to communicate, though: riddles, notes, chance meetings in public places… I never knew if the shrine attendant offering directions, or the old man demanding help with carrying his groceries was really my brother stealing a bit of practice and time for himself. It became our game, and I'm quite sure it's the origin of Kid's heist notes to the police."

Kaito smiled, bright even in the shadows cast by the desk lamp and a setting moon, but stiff around the edges from a shared sense of grief. "I miss him."

"Me too."

.oOo.

Morning light crept through Shinichi's room on little cat feet … the sort of cat feet that ferried in a cat to sprawl across an unsuspecting sleeping face. The encroaching light forced one dark head out of the pillows and a second dark head to burrow more deeply into them. Shinichi, who was marginally the more awake of the two, hauled himself out of bed and stumbled over Kaito before reaching the windows to pull the drapes shut. Who had left the drapes open on a Sunday morning, anyway?

With the room cloaked in shadow once more, Shinichi headed back towards his bed, planting a foot in Kaito's side again on the way. Kaito's hand snaked out to swat at him as Shinichi flopped back onto his matress.

"Sorry." Shinichi yawned, and rubbed at the itching needle mark in his arm. Pillows muffled Kaito's answering grumble. Shinichi stretched out full length, enjoying the feel of his hands and feet touching both ends of the bed. He was himself again, and he chased away the instinctive, uneasy dread that accompanied that thought; the feeling that he was running out of time. Haibara's cure must have run out sometime the night before, but he hadn't turned back into Conan. Thinking back, he couldn't remember exactly what had happened the previous night – which was strange.

He remembered details, normally, with sharp clarity. The night before seemed … fuzzy, blurred around the edges. Even his date with Ran was only coming back to him in snapshots and flashes. And he remembered being irritated with Kaito over …something.

Abrupt pain tore through him, followed by a terrifying moment of paralysis as his lungs struggled to breathe. It passed, almost as quickly as it came, leaving Shinichi gasping and darkness creeping into the edges of his vision. He dimly heard rustling and Kaito's voice calling him before the darkness swallowed him.

It lifted moments later, and Shinichi pried his eyes open to find Kaito leaning over him, who seemed to sag a bit in relief when Shinichi focused on him, and offered a slight smile. "Only a minute that time. You scared us last night. How are you feeling?"

Shinichi rolled far enough to look over the side of the bed. "I … what happened? It felt like I was changing back into Conan, but …" he held up a hand and wiggled his fingers, "I'm still me."

"Last night? Haibara's temporary cure wore off. You passed out, and were _smoking_, but … stayed you. Mom says your system took over like it was supposed to, it was just more of a strain than anyone was expecting, and you're probably out of the woods. Just now? You were only out for a few seconds, and no smoking." Kaito carded his fingers through the back of his hair, and hopped up to claim the end of Shinichi's bed. "That is a tenacious poison, detective. I don't think it wants to let you go. But, it looks like you've got it pinned."

A knock at the door caught their attention, causing both of them to swivel their faces towards the door as the handle turned and a Shinichi's mother stuck her head into the boys' room. "Shin-chan! Kai-chan! Breakfast is ready." Yukiko took in their matching looks of curiosity and burst into a fit of giggles. "Oh my, look at you two." Shinichi and Kaito looked at each other and blinked. Shinichi's hair stuck up as wildly as Kaito's in the pre-comb morning. "Wait right there, I'm going to get a camera." Shinichi sighed.

Kaito stared at the door for an instant before pushing to his feet and heading for the closet. A moment of rustling later, Shinichi sputtered as a pair of jeans flew into his face. "What the … Kaito!"

Kaito stepped back out of the closet wearing jeans of his own and a skull-printed shirt, as he tugged a ball cap over his unruly hair. "Get dressed, and let's get out of here before she comes back. I don't know about your mom, but I know my mom, and she uses cute pictures as blackmail. She gives them to Aoko."

Shinichi blinked at him in confusion, fingers clutched around the clothes sitting in his lap. Kaito launched a balled-up shirt at him, and Shinichi caught it. "We'll never manage to sneak past her."

One of Kaito's eyebrows quirked upward, and he grinned, letting the shadows of the ball cap cover his eyes. "There's always the window. Now hurry up, detective. I even have something for us to do, and we can pick up breakfast on the way."

Shinichi bit down on a sigh and threw off the blankets of his bed.

.oOo.

"This is undeniably the creepiest shop I've ever been to," Shinichi said, looking up at the wood-paneled storefront that squatted in its barren courtyard, with small, high windows that promised dim gloom inside. "And we're not even inside yet."

Kaito repressed a shudder of agreement, that he turned into a nonplussed shrug. Without fail, this part of the city set his hair on end. "The selection here is good … or as good as we'll find anywhere with the options we have right now. I need a few things the professor doesn't have, and this place doesn't ask a lot of uncomfortable questions we really don't want to answer right now." Kaito shot his cousin a teasing grin and added, "And maybe you'll find something nice enough for Mouri-chan. Can't exactly walk into Ginza or Okachimachi and use the Kudou credit account, can we?"

Shinichi grumbled under his breath, and Kaito decided to dig at him a bit more. "Or, maybe Yukiko-oba-san has something sparkly and not held in a bank vault that she would part with." Kaito paused for a moment in exaggerated thought. "Not that being in a bank vault would be such a problem. Wouldn't want to tip anyone off that the whole family's back in town..."

"You're _retired_," Shinichi reminded him pointedly, pinning Kaito with an annoyed glare. "No safe cracking. Or jewel heists."

"But this would be for a good cause!" Kaito grinned, stretching his arms over his head before folding them behind his head. "I could even do a special performance and send the heist note to oba-san, and you can try to catch me. You'll be more fun to outrun now that you're taller than my waist."

Shinichi's hands twitched, but he forced them to stay at his sides. "Explain why I decided to go anywhere near jewelry with you in tow?"

"Because I'm a jewel thief and you thought this trip wasn't stressful enough," Kaito answered, grinning through the paint and carefully blended latex that reshaped parts of his jaw, cheeks and nose into a blunter-featured teenager. Shinichi had grudgingly undergone a similar transformation, squirming uncomfortably the entire time. "That, and I know jewels better than you do. Do you know enough to pick out anything decent? Or not fake?"

Shinichi folded his arms with a long-suffering roll of his eyes. "I know enough to figure out your next targets when I need to."

"When I tell you where to look," Kaito agreed, slipping past and vanishing through the doorway of the shop.

"Welcome!" a voice called out in greeting, preceding its owner by an instant as Shinichi followed Kaito with a challenging glare firmly in place. "Can I …" the shopkeeper that hailed them trailed off and looked at them both from the shadows of a green-striped hat, one hand tucked into a dark haori while the other folded a small fan and lowered it from its greeting wave, "offer either of you a weapon?"

Kaito skipped forward, waving his hand and smiling disarmingly. "Don't mind my cousin. He's been a bit jittery since they adjusted his medication."

Shinichi grumbled, pulling his hands out of his pockets to shove at Kaito's shoulder and snaking a foot around the other boy's ankle to trip him. Kaito twisted, shifting his weight and slapping a palm to the floor to turn the potential tumble into a truncated handstand before a controlled fall set him back to his feet, just outside of Shinichi's reach. Shinichi sighed before bowing politely in silent apology.

The shopkeeper leaned casually on his cane as he watched the antics of the two, eyebrows raising enough to vanish into the shadows beneath his hat and shaggy hair. "Were you looking for anything in particular?"

"He's looking for a ring," Kaito chimed in, grinning at Shinichi's sudden squawk of protest. "And I have a delivery to pick up." Kaito pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and passed it to the man in the funny hat.

"I am not looking for a ring." Shinichi dragged his dignity back into place and shot a glare at his cousin. "And, no offense," he rubbed self-consciously at the back of his neck as he turned to the shopkeeper, "but this doesn't really look like the place to be looking for jewelry."

"None taken," the shopkeeper, with a knowing smile half-hidden in shadow. "Though you may be surprised." He paused a moment, just long enough to scan over the list Kaito had handed to him before turning and waving them both to follow.

"Ah, well …" Shinichi began, but trailed off as Kaito grabbed his arm and pulled him along in the wake of the shopkeeper. He shook his cousin off, quite capable of trailing along behind on his own power. A case of jewelry tucked behind a stack of boxes caught Shinichi's attention for a moment, but a quick glance confirmed that none of them looked even close to what he would consider presenting to Ran. He wondered briefly why he _didn't_ just ask his mother to help him find something appropriate, before internally wincing at the thought . His mother would be overjoyed to help him find something - especially a ring - for Ran … overjoyed and underfoot as she orchestrated a massive production starring her son and future daughter-in-law. And, knowing Kaito, Kudou Yukiko would have plenty of help, if for no other reason than that Kaito seemed to live to drive Shinichi crazy some days... most days … any day he could possibly get away with it.

The shopkeeper tapped Shinichi on the shoulder with his fan. Shinichi started, and shot a quick glare as Kaito coughed to cover up laughter. "That case is all costume jewelry. But, I do have something that you may want to consider for your young lady."

"Um … thank you," Shinichi started, only to be waved off over a shoulder as the shopkeeper stepped away and vanished into a backroom. Shinichi let out a slow breath and looked over at Kaito. "Do you know what happened the last time I bought Ran jewelry?"

"Mm?" Kaito looked up from a display of candy in foreign wrappers. "No, what happened?"

A black cat streaked past, a small girl clattering along in its wake. "Yoruichi-sama!" she entreated, nearly running into Kaito's legs as the cat switched direction and darted behind him. "Yoruichi-sama, at least let me cook it before you eat it!"

Kaito twisted to see the cat hiding behind him, and its stolen prize clear as it slowed. "Eat wha …. YEEAAGH!" Kaito's skin paled beneath the molding clay and make-up and he threw himself behind Shinichi.

"What the hell?" Shinichi turned halfway before Kaito's hands clamped onto his shoulders and jerked him back into place.

"Stay there!"

"What is your problem?" The cat and girl were blinking up at him, and Shinichi shrugged, both to tell them he was as confused as they were and to try dislodging Kaito's grip. "Kai …"

"Just stay there!" Kaito ordered, pulling Shinichi backwards a step. Shinichi dug in his heels and stopped any further retreat.

"Are you afraid of cats?"

Kaito laughed, a tinge of manicness tainting the sound. "Yes, detective, I'm terrified of cats. You don't know how many heists have almost been ruined by some woman's hairball of a persian."

_Just admit you're a thief out loud, _Shinichi sighed internally, and kicked the side of Kaito's foot. _It's not like we're supposed to be laying low._ "Stop putting on a performance. What's wrong with you?"

"_Nothing_."

Shinichi reached up to pry Kaito's hands off his shoulders, swearing under his breath as it didn't work, and Kaito continued using him as a meat shield. "It's not nothing. You're telling me all it took for me to stop you was to borrow Goro from Ran's mom?"

"No!" Kaito sounded like he was gritting his teeth, and finally blurted, "I can't stand fish, okay? Now help me get rid of it!" A hand stabbed past Shinichi's face, finger pointing at the black cat that was sitting in front of them with a tilted head, fish still dangling from its mouth. The little girl stood just behind the cat, looking dubiously at the two older boys in front of her.

Shinichi ran a hand down his face and tightened it over his mouth. He was not going to laugh at his cousin and - he was man enough to admit it - friend. He wasn't. Kaitou Kid's legendary composure could be cracked by sushi, and he was not. going. to. laugh. Or use it against him too much. "Please tell me Aoko knows about this," Shinichi managed to choke out around his hand, congratulating himself on keeping his voice steady.

"Mom ratted me out years ago," Kaito grumbled, sounding sulky. "Now..."

The cat darted past Shinichi and twined herself around Kaito's ankles, and the tail fin of her fish slid across his ankle. Kaito shrieked and leaped upwards, clinging to the nearest stable thing that was away from the finned terror … which happened to be Shinichi.

Shinichi choked as Kaito crashed into his back and latched onto his neck, hands flying up to pry at Kaito's arms. The thief's legs wrapped around his waist and Shinichi freed up one hand to push ineffectually at them. When that didn't work, Shinichi jammed his elbow into Kaito's side. Kaito shifted to avoid the hit, instincts honed by years of dodging mops and detectives kicking in, and Shinichi found himself being yanked sideways by the movement.

The cat vanished, instantly out of the way as Shinichi's arms pinwheeled, and he tipped over, crashing into a stack of boxes. Kaito's breath rushed out in an undignified squeal as Shinichi landed on him. "Get. Off!" Kaito managed, after sucking in a painful breath.

"This is your fault!"

"It's … oof! Just move!"

Kaito pushed his cousin away and levered himself up onto his elbows, rubbing at his stomach with a wince. Shinichi shoved a box of cartoonish candy dispensers off his head and pinned Kaito with a glare. "What the hell …"

A polite cough interrupted, startling them both. The shopkeeper stood in front of them, looking at the chaos and scatter merchandise with a surprisingly mild look as he extended one hand and used the other to open the lid. "This should be what you're looking for." A box sat in the cage of his long fingers, its velvet exterior absorbing the light around it. The ring resting amidst the dark luster of black silk caught the light with a subdued glitter.

"That …" Shinichi trailed off and managed a glance at Kaito who had righted himself enough to look at the ring as well. Kaito's eyebrows were raised and he sent Shinichi an approving nod.

"Told you you'd find something."

Shinichi took a steadying breath before clearing his throat and accepting the box from the shopkeeper. "That will do very well indeed. Thank you."

.oOo.

Afternoon light brightened the city streets as dozens of small forms spilled out of the double doors, packs slung across their shoulders laughing brightly in the rain-cleared air. They moved across the school yard, alone or in packs, rushing for home and freedom, many running towards older children that waited by the gate.

She enjoyed watching them, these little snapshots of youth. And, particularly, she enjoyed the trio of children that clustered around two dark-haired teenagers who wore the uniform of the neighboring Teitan High. They were missing two of their number today: the ringleader of the little group, and his tea-haired confidant.

She tapped manicured nails against the back of the bench she stood beside, sipping dark coffee from a paper cup. _Where are you hiding, Cool Kid? _ The thought brought her to focus on the older boy, who smiled and crouched to tousle the smallest girl's hair. He straightened easily and stretched his arms over his head, keeping a tight grip on the school bag that he held in one hand. As his hands fell back to his side, he reached out and grabbed the older girl's hand, smiling at her blush.

Vermouth's eyes narrowed. The thief was being awfully familiar with the angel. The other times she had taken the opportunity to stalk them, he had barely touched her, clearly aware of their pint-sized chaperon, and subtly uncomfortable beneath the practiced mask of Kudou Shinichi. A question chirped by one of the children intensified the blushes across the two teenagers' faces. They looked at each other before he nodded in acceptance of whatever question had been asked. The angel, for her part, stared at him with a bit of embarrassed, pleased, and happy shock flitting across her face.

The reactions were too natural, too intimate, and Vermouth realized abruptly that _that_ was not the thief at all. One of her silver bullets was a higher caliber than he had been before. Absinthe's doing, she suspected. Or, more likely, a cocktail of Sherry and Absinthe. Between the two, it had only been a matter of time.

Vermouth turned from her observation, stepping easily into the foot traffic and vanishing into it before her scrutiny drew the attention of her silver bullet; she knew, he was very, very good at knowing when he was being watched. Her plans altered in her mind, incorporating the new dynamic and shifting themselves around to account for it. Or at least, _begin_to account for it.

It really was a pity, she mused, half fancifully, that both of the boys weren't singled out and acquired when they were younger. They were set in their ways at this point in the game. But a younger set – say young enough to be malleable and _trusting _would have been quite the gift for the Organization.

Vermouth smiled to herself and locked the idea away for better, more complex perusal later on. For now, she could wait and see who would step forward to begin the next move, and who would be left to react. Time, after all, was one thing she had in abundance.

* * *

**Kat's Notes:**  
Added to things Kat doesn't enjoy writing: slapstick. Though, Kaito's reaction to fish is based on mine to snakes. Yes, really. My family has come home to me perched on furniture, or dissolving into hysterics because something slithered across my path.


End file.
